Featured RUG for my living room. Who/what/when?

A neighbor down the street was moving and giving away this rug. She did not know the history because she got it years ago "at the Goodwill." It is fairly large at 8ft x10ft. No tags on the back.

I was looking for a new rug, and decided to give this a try, especially as it was free and better than what we had previously! I believe it is wool, and it seems to be fairly well made. There is a little 3" spot of damage on an edge, and needs to be cleaned, but wanted to see if anyone could estimate age, or origin? Thanks!











Has a lot of these "crosses" or "plus signs".


Photo of the back:

 

Very nice and my favorite price ! I think it might be Turkish,but thats a guess.

 

that weave is unknown to me.....

 

I don't see any age on it. It's a pretty rug and I'd bet good money it's mostly wool.

 

Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far! I'm positive the whole thing is wool. It has kind of an older feel in person, but it could absolutely be just sort of older patterns and what seems to be some quality making me think that. 1990's? 1940's? I was thinking made sometime during the 20th century for sure. Former owner bought it used a decade or so ago, but that doesn't tell a lot. It lays beautifully flat, and the colors kind of work in the room I have it in. It's a bit larger than I was looking for at 8x10 feet, but being free thought I'd give it a try.

Additional thoughts welcome. I really don't know anything about rugs!

 

Beautiful.

Ditto. But I don't know the technique either, which is confusing, because the motifs look Persian, sort of Heriz, and the fringe looks like it is handmade.

@2manybooks .

 

That's a very nice rug! Which would go nicely in my house as I'm currently a big fan of green and greenish things. I don't know much about rugs except that I like this one.

 

The weaving technique is known as soumak (sumak). Originally associated with textiles from the Caucasus region, rugs using this technique are now made in India and Pakistan as well. Weft yarns are wrapped around the warps, and the method of wrapping can be varied to create different effects. Additional foundation wefts may or may not be included.

https://www.kilim.com/kilim-wiki/weaving-techniques





https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/portable-storage/weaving-techniques

Traditionally, the weft ends were left untrimmed on the back of the textile, perhaps for added warmth.

I am not sure if this type of weaving has been (or could be) mechanized. I have found references on the web to machine woven soumak rugs, but their descriptions and photos are not clear enough to compare with your rug. The back of your rug looks very even/uniform, which can be a sign of being machine made, but I am not sure. I can't find any useful photos of the back of soumak rugs currently being produced, by hand or machine. Perhaps, now armed with the "soumak" term, you might be able to visit an importing shop to look at other examples.

 

Beautiful attractive rug! At once a in lifetime price
Looks great on the wood floor

 

I really appreciate the detailed thoughts on this @2manybooks . Super interesting and thanks for the links. Also kudos to others who commented.

Where I'm headed is that I have to get it cleaned which guessing is going to run around $200 if not more. If it's a better quality rug, I'm okay with that.

The former house had two large dogs. They were low key dogs but there is an ever so slight dog smell to the rug that I notice just every now and then. Pretty subtle, but I'm super sensitive with this stuff, and so was just thinking cleaning is a must.

I have a friend who know rugs, and I ran into her at the Goodwill today, showed her a photo of the rug I had on my phone. She pretty much said she'd have to look at it in person, and did mention there would be clues on the back of the rug as to whether hand made or machine made. So I may get an in-person view on this.

Will definitely report back.

 

Lovely rug, @Lucille.b , and it looks good in your home.