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History of Area Rugs

Reeds and animal hides gave way to tapestries

It is thought that the first hand knotted pile rugs were woven by the nomadic tribes of Turkestan or the Caucasus

The earliest known pile rugs are all either from Persia or inspired by Persian rug making. Dating from the 6th Century BC both the "Pazyryk" and the "Spring of Khosrows" rugs strongly suggest that the Orient was the cradle of rug making.

7th C and before:

Chinese rugs from Khotan - Originally an independent country, The kingdom of Khotan was one of the earliest Buddhist states in the world. In Khotan is a oasis town called Hotan (known by its Modern Chinese name). Hotan is very strategically located at an intersection between two ancient branches of the famous silk route. The southern branch is the most ancient, joining China and the West with trade routes from India and Tibet. Not surprisingly it the towns people were exposed to ideas and technologies, materials and art forms from far and wide. One of the earliest centers of silk manufacture outside China. There is evidence to suggest that the silk-producing industry flourished in Hotan as early as the fifth century.

"According to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk-manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the 1st century CE. It was from Khotan that the eggs of silkworms were smuggled to Persia, reaching Justinian's Constantinople in 551 AD.

Khotanese carpets, were mentioned by Xuanzang, who visited the oasis in 644 CE: "The country produces woolen carpets and fine felt, and the people are skillful in spinning and weaving silk." In his Biography it is stated: "It produced carpets and fine felt, and the felt-makers also spun coarse and fine silk." Not only pile carpets were produced in ancient times, but also kilims. Indeed an Archeological explorer discovered framents of an 4th or 5th century Kelim from ruins near Khotan.

Khotanese pile carpets - both wool and silk are still highly prized and form an important export. "The rich natural colours and designs of Hetian carpets have been treasured all over Central Asia for centuries. They are especially valuable because of the city's especially long, thick wool. Villagers make carpets as a sideline, selling them at the bazaar or to private buyers from other parts of Xinjiang.

8th - 12th C European rug manufacture:

The Saracen invaders of Spain brought their knowledge of rug making from the middle east and North Africa to Spain. Arriving in the 8th century it was not until the 12th century that Spain became an important center for the manufacture of rugs.

16th C Persian rugs of Iran:

Safavid Shahs (rulers) (1502 - 1629) established royal weaving workshops in the cities of Kashan, Kerman, Esfahan, Joshaqan, Tabriz, Yazd, Shiraz, Herat (part of Afghanistan today) and Sabzevar - even weaving rugs themselves. Their interest and patronage made rug weaving a noble art form, rather than just the preserve of simple nomadic tribes. The art of weaving rugs evolved greatly during this period - the designs became more complex and more organic, loaded with scholarly visual references to poetry and philosophy and of course to the wealthy, honored and prestigious patrons. It was this period that made Persia the quintessential home of the famed Oriental Rug.

16th C Kashmiri Rugs:

In the 16th Century, during the era of the Persian Safavid Shahs - that some of the weavers of Esfahan in Persia traveled to Lahore in India, (in modern day Pakistan). It was during the time of the Moghul Emperor Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great - who is most famous for encouraging religious tolerance, for supporting the arts, creating a time of prosperity in India and of course for his tenacity and courage in battle. It is thought that he actually sponsored the creation of the first rug weaving facility in Lahore. This was truly a great time for a new art and an industry to find a foothold, proving to be the first steps in the formation of the tremendous Indian rug making tradition. Today Lahore is still a center for the weaving of fine hand made rugs, and the Punjab has a significant rug making industry, producing fine rugs for the wealthy and for export, as well as rough rugs, known as namdas, for the locals.

1500s - 1700s in England - centers being:

Kidderminster, Wilton, and Axminster. although the tradition of tapestry weaving in England goes back much further. In 1800 The Wilton carpet makers were the first to experiment with a mechanized tool for figured weaving. Invented by the French inventor Joseph-Marie Jacquard.

18th & 19th C France was the primary European manufacturer of pile-wovencarpets in 17th- and 18th-century.

One particular center for the manufacture of fabulous deep pile rugs was called the Savonneries, after the abandoned soap works that housed the carpet factory.

The factory was established by Pierre Dupont in 1628 with supervision of Henry IV. Their production was very unusual. Principally woven as special orders for palaces, their designs were produced under the direction of artists of the royal courts. For over one hundred years (1650 and 1789) they dominated stylistically - establishing an aesthetic trend so strong that today the Chinese and Indian manufacturers are still producing rugs in the Savonnerie style. Their production was interrupted by the French Revolution but moved to Gobelins in 1825.

19th C: America Automated the Industry:

It was in 1841 Lowell, Massachusets, USA that the first steam powered carpet loom appeared. The inventor Erastus Brigham Bigelow first began with a flat-weave loom, but later produced a power loom that made a 'Brussels', or looped-pile, carpet. This was followed by the Axminster power loom in 1876 invented by Halcyon Skinner, (based on an idea by Alexander Smith). The technology expanded rapidly through the 1920s and 40's to keep pace with growing demand for broadloom (wall to wall) carpet.

20th C - The Creation of the Nepalese Rug industry:

In 1949 the Chinese invaded Tibet, causing thousands of Tibetans to flee over the mountains into Nepal and India. Of those who survived the dangerous journey, many took weaving skills with them. Until this period Tibetan rug making was highly skilled and intricate but not really for commercial sale. They made rugs for their own uses, for religious ceremonies, as saddles and wall hangings. As refugees in Nepal and India they were forced to rely upon any skills that they might have just to survive. And so it was that the influx of Tibetan skilled labor into Nepal created the Nepalese carpet industry, where none had existed before.

20th C - The commercial production of rugs in Tibet.

Ironically, this ancient Tibetan craft has seen a renaissance under the Chinese occupation. Producing a tremendous amount of interest in Tibetan rugs and Rug making all over the world. As a result of this mystique, the market for Tibetan rugs exploded, and now supports a strong rug making industry in Tibet.