What is the difference between a rug and a carpet?

Well, the answer depends on whom you are asking. If you were to take this question to a Curator or member of the academic world of Oriental textiles you would probably be told that a rug is a textile as it appears when removed from the loom unfinished and a carpet would be its finishes version with something like a finished edge or fringe. A dealer would probably say that a rug is a finished piece that is less than three by five feet and a carper is a finishes piece that is larger than those dimensions. An unfinished work wouldn't be referred to as either, but the distinction is trivial and the words are usually used interchangeably. There are however two distinct types of carpets, Kilim and Pile carpets. Kilim carpets (tree of life prayer rug) consist of only warp and weft threads woven to form the visible pattern. Pile rugs on the other hand have both warp weft and pile threads. The pile threads are the threads that are knotted to the warp and weft and trimmed to form the pile.

Medallion designs are dominated by a central pattern and also utilize corner designs called spandrels. When they are used together it is called lechek torunj in Iran, and commonly utilized there.

A classic example of this is, and probably the most famous carpet in the world, is the Ardebil Rug (right). Estimated to have been produced around 1540 the rug was acquired by the Victoria Albert's museum in 1893 for a bargain $4000 (an outrageous price for this period). Some time later it was discovered that there was a twin that is now in the LA Museum of art. Probably made to serve as a repair carpet for the original, along with its twin in London are the finest examples of Persian carpets known.

Repeat patterns are characterized by the use of the same motif over and over. Common motifs are the Gul of Turkoman Tribe carpets. The Gul is the Persian word for flower, but is thought to have been derived from the ancient Turkick word for tribe, family or clan. The early Gul motif was used as the tribal emblem and when a tribe was conquered the Gul of the conquering tribe or those tribes who they owed allegiance to would be incorporated into its main weavings. Some tent bands would contain as many as sixty unique gulls. They are usually diamonds or octagonal shaped that are filled with symmetrical patterns and easily recognizable.

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