Early 20th Century Turkish Rugs

Antique Turkish Oushak rugs have been woven in Western Turkey since the beginning of the Ottoman period. Historians attributed to them many of the great masterpieces of early Turkish...

Dancing curvilinear patterns paired with a classic sense of eastern symmetry lend this antique Hereke rug tones of grandeur and whimsy alike. Originating from Turkey between 1910-192...

52558 Antique Persian Joshegan Rug, 10'11 x 12'10. Antique-washed Persian Joshegan rugs refer to rugs that have undergone a washing process to give them an aged or antique appearance...

Turkish rugs (also referred to as Anatolian rugs) are, arguably, the rugs that started it all. These carpets were among the first wave of Oriental antique carpets to be exported into Europe. The vintage Turkish rugs were prized commodities and artistically influential pieces. The designs of Turkish rugs such as the iconic guls, prayer rugs and small repeating patterns found on these carpets, worked their way into the iconic paintings of the European masters, including Memling, Lotto, Bellini, Hans Holbein and many others. These painters were inspired so much by Turkish rugs and the design motifs they feature that the artists have lent their names to some of these famous Turkish patterns. One of the most famous artists that incorporated rugs from Turkey in his painting was the great and iconic 16th century painter Hans Holbein. The styles of Turkish rugs...

Antique Turkish Oushak rugs have been woven in Western Turkey since the beginning of the Ottoman period. Historians attributed to them many of the great masterpieces of early Turkish...

The lightly abrashed shrimp pink field displays a small, lobed medallion with a diamond sub-medallion, and rust-accented floating leaves about. Dark green border with bent and barbed...

Antique Oushak Rug 10'10" x 11'0"

Late 19th Century Turkish Oushak Carpet ( 4'4" x 11'6" - 132 x 350 )

More than 80 years old originating from Turkey, between 1920-1930, this antique Kilim rug hosts an exquisite, balanced medley of spectral and pastel colorways with its rich red backg...

Antique Turkish Oushak rugs have been woven in Western Turkey since the beginning of the Ottoman period. Historians attributed to them many of the great masterpieces of early Turkish...

Antique Oushak rug. Measures: 12'2" x 14'8".

Turkish Kilim newer used on the floor only on the wall, circa 1920s.  

This elegant antique Oushak carpet, of considerably ample size, dates back to around the end of the 19th Century and beautifully illustrates the impeccable craftsmanship and artistry...

This antique Sivas rug embodies understated sophistication with its soft neutral palette, featuring warm beige, ivory, and pale gray tones that blend seamlessly into a delicately fad...

An antique Turkish Oushak oriental carpet, size 24'6 H x 19'6 W, circa 1900. This lovely hand-knotted wool carpet features a softly hued central medallion anchoring the pale blue pri...

78232 antique red Turkish Oushak rug inspired by Thomas Eakins 12'00 x 14'02. Showcasing a bold expressive design, incredible detail and texture, this ha...

Handmade in wool originating from England circa 1910-1920, this antique rug connotes an early 20th century needlepoint rug design, remarking one of the most beautiful traditions of c...

Originating from Turkey circa 1920-1930, this Oushak rug is a new entrant to Rug & Kilim’s coveted antique collection. Hand Knotted in wool, this 12x15 sized rug exemplifies a subtle...

This interwar west Anatolian workshop runner is quite coarse in weave and shows significant overall wear with wefts visible. The creamy ivory field displays a bold Yaprak (Leaf) patt...

A stunning early 20th century Turkish Oushak rug with a beautiful large-scale stylized trellis floral pattern with pink, orange and yellow flowers and pink and white vines, all set a...

An antique Turkish Oushak large room size carpet handmade during the early 20th century in gold and beige tones. Measures: 12' 10" x 15' 8".

A light lime green open field is centred by a pale salmon medallion and is clasped by en suite quarter corners. The edges of these elements are roughly and irregularly drawn as if th...

Oushak carpets, also known as Ushak or Usak carpets, are renowned for their timeless beauty, rich history, and exceptional craftsmanship. Originating from the region of Oushak in wes...

52087, vintage Turkish Oushak runner, narrow hallway runner. This hand knotted wool vintage Turkish Oushak runner features three connected hexago...

An antique Turkish Oushak large room size carpet in square format handmade during the early 20th century. The tone-on-tone design incorporates a gold background with only light sketc...

An early 20th-century Turkish Melas Decorative Rug Details rug no. 30352 size 3' 6" x 5' 2" (107 x 157 cm)

A sweet early 20th century Turkish Sparta rug with a wonderful tribal pattern containing stylized flowers woven in indigo, green, and gold, on a crimson background, on another backgr...

A rare and relatively early example of monochrome Tulu rug, distinguished by a completely open field embellished by almost calligraphic touches of natural brown wool. Tulus of this t...

52722, vintage Turkish Oushak Yastik rug with rustic industrial style, Scatter rug. Immersed in Anatolian history and refined colors, this hand knotted wool vintage Oushak Yastik rug...

76611 Distressed Antique Turkish Sivas Prayer Rug 04’01 x 05’05. With its beguiling beauty and rustic sensibility, this hand knotted wool distressed antique Turkish Sivas prayer rug ...

West Anatolia is one of the largest weaving regions in Turkey. Since the 15th century, Turkish rugs have always been on top of the list for having Fine oriental rugs. Measure: 5'3" x...

74998 Antique Turkish Sparta Rug, 08'11 X 11'10. Georgian style meets relaxed refinement in this antique Turkish Sparta rug. The stylish levels of complexity and feminine color palet...

77279 Vintage Turkish Oushak Rug Runner, 02'06 x 11'07. Like the echo of a village prayer cast into the mountains at dusk, this hand knotted wool vintage Turkish Oushak rug runner ca...

Antique Turkish Oushak Rug Doris Leslie Blau Size: 12'4" × 14'1" (375 × 429 cm) This antique Turkish Oushak rug (circa 1920) showcases a botanical and casual design dominated by soft...

Various styles of vigorously drawn leaves in light blue and orange decorate the centrally organized red field of this circa 1900 Oushak from west Turkey. The light blue main border s...

Hand knotted runner from Eastern Turkey, Vintage Middle Eastern rug, circa 1940. Size: 2ft 9 in x 10ft 7in. Traditional Turkish carpet desig...

This vintage hand-woven wool and hemp rug features a timeless gingham-inspired check pattern in alternating stripes of muted red, blue, and natural ivory. Skillfully crafted using fl...

50245 Antique Turkish Sivas Rug, 04'03 x 06'06. With warm spice-tones and lovingly rustic appearance, this hand knotted wool antique Turkish Sivas rug embraces English Manor style. I...

Measures: 6'9"X9'4" Vintage Turkish Kars Rug with Geometric Medallions in Earthy Browns and Soft Pink Tones 6'9"x9'4". Antique Oushak Rug with Oushak Design. Keivan Woven Arts/ Rug...

Pillow made from an early 20th century turkish rug. poly fill insert provided with a zipper closure 16'' x 16''

Antique Turkish Oushak Rug Size: 14'2" × 14'9" (431 × 449 cm) Color: Beige, Orange This exquisite antique rug, sourced from Doris Leslie Blau, showcases a rare blend of history and ...

An antique Turkish Oushak rug in runner format handmade during the early 20th century. Measures: 2' 8" x 10' 9" Turkish rugs & carpets: Until the Great Persian Carpet Revival in the later 19th century, the “Oriental rug” was Turkish. For nearly six centuries, Turkish rugs, both scatter, room size, and even larger, thoroughly dominated the European import market. Whereas the Persian carpet can be divided into urban, village, and tribal types, in Turkey and its predecessor the Ottoman Empire, rugs almost exclusively came from village weavers and from a small number of urban workshops. Ninety percent village, nine percent city, one percent tribal. Turkish weavers have, with very few exceptions, always worked with the symmetric (Turkish) knot. Wool foundations are standard practice among both town and village weavers. The exceptions, very finely woven 20th century and recent Herekeh silks from near Istanbul, and early 17th century Ottoman Court rugs from Bursa, constitute only a tiny part of the total. Always pricey, they appealed and still appeal to the clients who want lots of knots and perfect execution instead of individual personality. The urban workshops have been centered around the western Turkish city of Oushak and its attendant port town of Smyrna. Oushak weaves with the trends in fashion. When color saturated medallion carpets were needed, Oushak was ready in the 17th and 18th centuries. When coarse red and blue carpets were required, Oushak and Smyrna in the 19th century wove them by the boatload. When tastes changed again, and the European dealers in Smyrna wanted room size carpets with lighter and unusual colors, and with Persianate designs, production ramped up in nearby Oushak. Those antique, all-wool construction turn-of-the-century carpets are still in high demand with designers. Antique carpets with allover, roughly drawn patterns on grounds of shrimp, rust, straw, cream, pale blue, and pale and pea green, hitherto unavailable colors, are in such demand today that contemporary Oushaks have attempted to mimic them with soft palettes, extra-large scale drawing and coarse weaves. Oushaks woven for the Turkish market, for palaces, houses and mosques were often oversize with large, repeating medallions, all in shades of (Turkey) red, dark blue, light blue-teal, and ivory, with lemon and green accents. Turkey, along with India, invented standard sizes. By vertically repeating the medallion, one could get one medallion, one with two end halves, two, three, etc. medallions, up to thirty or so feet in length. The process spared making new cartoons for each length and allowed a quicker turnaround time. Oushak, from the time of 15th century “Holbein” rugs onward, has always been a commercial center. The prayer niche directional rug is primarily a Turkish development. In the towns and villages east of Oushak, in Ghiordes, Kula, Ladik, Kirsehir, Mucur and Konya, among others, arch pattern scatters with bright palettes and weaves varying from relatively fine to moderate were almost the entire production. Antique examples were particularly popular in America around 1900. Other centers of village weaving were situated on the western coast and adjacent islands with the town of Melas and neighboring villages weaving geometric prayer rugs and scatters with a characteristic khaki green and lots of yellow. The other large region was in the northwest of Anatolia, near ancient Troy, with the sizable town of Bergama at its center. The satellite towns of Ezine, Karakecilli, Yuntdag, and Canakkale all wove colorful scatters with moderate weaves in all wool with geometric designs and cheerful palettes. Near to Istanbul, these were among the first Turkish rugs to reach Europe in the Renaissance. The earliest Turkish pieces depicted in Italian Old Master paintings display the so-called “Memling gul”, an allover panel pattern with hooked and stepped elements within the reserves. This pattern continues for centuries in the Konya area and in the Caucasus as well. Turkey is a land of villages and much of the most interesting Turkish weaving comes from one undiscovered village or another. The Konya-Cappadocia region of central Turkey includes the active towns of Karapinar, Karaman, Obruk, Sizma, and Tashpinar, all weaving Konya-esque scatters and long rugs. Karapinar has been active the longest, since the 17th century. The mosques in and around Konya have preserved locally-made rugs from the fourteenth. In the 20th century, the extra-long pile, many wefted Tulu rug was devised, with limited palettes and color block patterns. These are not really antique Tulus, but they must be a product of long-standing village tradition. There are thousands upon thousands of rural Turkish villages, almost all with easy access to local tribal wool. Rug students are discovering new names and rug types almost daily. The common denominators are bright colors, geometric designs, wool construction, moderate to coarse weaves and symmetric knots. Synthetic dyes hit the Turkish rug industry quickly and hard after 1870, and they penetrated to even the most off-the-beaten-track villages. This development was almost entirely negative. The village weavers used fugitive or overly bright dyes which ruined the color harmonies built up over centuries. Characteristic types disappeared or were negatively transmuted. The Turkish village rug of the 1870 to 1920 period is nothing to be proud of. In the eastern provinces, the semi-nomadic Kurdish tribes, collectively called ‘Yuruks’, weave all wool, geometric pieces with medium to medium-coarse weaves, as well as kilims and other flatweaves. The rugs employ cochineal instead of madder for the reds, mustard yellows, greens, and various blues. They are under-collected like the Persian Afshars. Their rugs are in scatter and long rug formats. The far eastern Turkish town of Erzerum has a long tradition of idiosyncratic, semi-workshop rugs and further to the east is Kars with a tradition of rugs in the Caucasian Kazak manner. One Turkish specialty is the Yastiks or cushion cover, made in pairs for the public living rooms of village houses. These are larger rugs in miniature and good ones are highly collectible. Like other Turkish rustic weavings, ones with synthetic dyes are almost totally undesirable. Only the tribal Baluch make similar cushion covers, known as pushtis or balishts, in the same small, oblong format. Yastiks always have a back, usually in plain weave, so that they can be easily stuffed. When the Imperial Carpet Factory at Herekeh near Istanbul closed in the early 20th century, the highly proficient Armenian master weavers set up in the Kum Kapi district of Istanbul where they wove all-silk, exquisitely fine and elaborately detailed small pieces, sometimes enriched with metal thread, for the most discriminating European buyers. Today the best, signed Kum Kapi pieces, usually in the “Sultan’s head” prayer niche design, can fetch upwards of $100,000. They are strictly for the wall. An Interwar all-silk room size Kum Kapi carpet is both exceedingly rare and stratospherically priced. The workshops closed in the 1930s, but the weaving of extremely fine, all-silk small rugs in Herekeh was revived in the 1960s. There has been a recent vogue for larger Turkish village vintage...

71257 Antique Pink Turkish Sivas Rug, 13’06 x 22’00. A Sivas rug is a type of Turkish rug originating from the city of Sivas in central Anatolia, Turkey. These rugs are known for their high quality and intricate designs. Sivas rugs typically feature geometric or floral patterns, often with a central medallion motif. They are handwoven using techniques passed down through generations. Sivas rugs are prized for their durability, beauty, and cultural significance, and they are sought after by collectors and enthusiasts worldwide. ​Step into a world of enchantment with this oversized hand knotted wool antique Turkish Sivas rug, where Regencycore elegance meets Art Nouveau opulence. Adorned with the graceful allure of Bridgerton style, this grandeur Turkish area rug unveils a visual symphony of captivating hues and intricate patterns. Behold as the arabesque motifs dance gracefully across a soft pink field, exuding an air of refined sophistication. Each geometric element whispers tales of elegance, while ivory spandrels and delicately detailed florals weave a story of timeless beauty. Follow the meandering paths of curvilinear vine scrolls, reminiscent of a secret garden waiting to be explored. Framed by a regal navy blue border, this masterpiece commands attention with its unparalleled allure. Immerse yourself in a world where every petal, every curve, tells a story of romance and refinement. Let your gaze wander along the intricate borders, each line a testament to the exquisite craftsmanship that defines this antique Turkish Sivas rug. With every glance, discover new layers of enchantment and decorative allure, transporting you to a realm of timeless charm and sophistication. Rendered in a variegated shades of blush pink, deep navy blue, creamy ivory, and gentle baby blue with other accent colors.​ Abrash. Hand-knotted wool. Made in Turkey. Measures: 13’06 x 22’00. Hotel Lobby Size Carpet 14 x 22 Rug...

This hand-woven goat hair kilim is a stunning vintage textile, woven by nomadic tribes using natural, undyed goat hair. Featuring deep brown and grey tones, this kilim showcases a bo...

Rug Number 29456 Size 3' 0" X 7' 7" Design Tulu Collection Antique/Vintage Material Wool Texture Pile Weave Origin Turkey Age Antique/Vintage

Hand-knotted in wool circa 1920-1930, a 5x7 antique Bessarabian rug of rare provenance and rustic beauty. This particular medallion style bears a subtle similarity to European car...

This example belongs to a specific family of late Ottoman Turkish rugs known by the term of Kiz Ghiordes. Distinguished by a double niche design on a white ground embellished by a pe...

Rug Number 27164 Size 6' 5" X 7' 0" Design Tulu Collection Atlas Material Wool Texture Shag Origin Turkey Age Antique/Vintage

An antique Turkish Oushak gallery carpet handmade during the early 20th century. Measures: 7' 0" x 13' 3".

In a semi-geometric style with short fluted lateral columns joining the lobed corner pieces, defining a straw-buff field anchored by a pendanted stepped and lobed pale lavender medal...

ref 78596

Made with hand knotted wool originating between 1910-1920, this antique Gabbeh Persian rug enjoys the tactful juxtaposition of a tribal geometric border with a more granular, subtle ...

Originating from Turkey circa 1920-1930, this Oushak rug is a new entrant to Rug & Kilim’s coveted antique collection. Hand Knotted in wool, this 12x15 sized rug exemplifies a subtle...

Antique Moroccan Rug, circa 1920, Room size. A one-of-a-kind antique Moroccan Rug, hand-knotted with medium thickness wool pile. This beautiful rug features a central medallion d...

A beautiful early 20th century Turkish Konya Prayer rug with a wonderful color palette including a bright pink center surrounded by multiple thin styl...

An antique Turkish Oushak large room size carpet in square format handmade during the early 20th century. Measures: 13' 1" x 14' 7".

Impressive and beautiful antique Turkish Green Oushak rug runner, country of origin: Turkey, date circa early 20th century. Size: 3 ft. 10 in x 11 ft. 10 in (1.17 m x 3.61 m) One of the most eye catching features of this beautiful green colored Turkish rug is the shape, which is a hallway runner rug size. The long, thin shape of this antique Oriental carpet...

Hand knotted Moorish style runner from Eastern Turkey, Vintage Middle Eastern rug, circa 1940. Size: 2ft 9 in x 10ft 7in. Traditional Moor...