Identifying Oriental Rugs

Many people don’t know how tell the difference between a genuine hand knotted oriental rug and the machine woven rug with an oriental design.

But you can identify an oriental rug by determining how the rug with the “oriental” design was made.

How Oriental Rugs are Made

Woven rugs are made on a loom. Each type has a foundation made of warp yarns and weft yarns. Warps run the length of the rug or from end to end. Wefts run the width of the rug or from side to side.

Here are a couple ways to distinguish between a hand knotted rug and machine woven rug. You’ll need to look at the back of the rug, so fold over a corner.

If the rug has a fringe, here’s a quick check.

Identifying hand knotted rugs

On hand knotted rugs, the pile yarns always wrap around the warps.

When you look at your rug, if you see that the pile yarn wraps around the warps, the rug is hand knotted. You won’t be able to see the warps because they’re covered up by the wool pile yarns.

Identifying machine woven rugs

On machine woven rugs, the pile yarns always wrap around the wefts. So you will be able to see the warps of the machine loomed rug when you examine the back.