Mercerized Turkish Rugs

A vintage Turkish Sivas carpet from the second quarter of the 20th century.

A vintage Turkish Sivas rug in runner format handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 2' 10" x 7' 4" 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...

This moderately woven urban eastern Turkish rug shows an open allover pattern of rosettes, oval lazy palmettes and stylized leafery, accented in straw yellow, green and brown, on a b...

The rusty-buff ground of this eastern Turkish town scatter supports a lobed ivory and straw medallion, with floral arabesque field decor and slate corners with double straw internal ...

A vintage Turkish Sivas accent rug handmade during the mid-20th century. Measures: 4' 0" x 5' 10".

This eastern Turkish town carpet shows a repeating panel pattern of niches with cypresses, , flowers and vases in a restrained palette featuring cream, pearl, light brown rust and pink.

This eastern Anatolian rug is essentially a monochrome with a high/low pile, the low areas adding a second tonal variant to the allover cream palette. The borders are only slightly d...