The expression ORIENTAL CARPET means carpets from the East and in fact it means carpets made in the Orient, and can be used for any carpet of Oriental origin, despite it's appearances or the way it is made. This expression is usually used to describe handmade carpets applying traditional methods in the vast regions of Persia (Iran), Anatolia (Turkey), Afghanistan, Baluchestan, Turkmenistan, some parts of India, Caucasus, China, Pakistan, and partly in the Balkans.

We can rarely define exactly where a carpet was woven or how old it is. The tribes where emigrating, mixing and copying from each other their traditional designs and tinges.

From the end of the 19th century, many carpet where made on demand, far from their homeland, to satisfy the needs of Western market. In some towns, villages and tribes, that where important weaving centers in the past, carpets are no longer woven, even though, products that they where famous with, can still be found and bought in the antiquity stores. On the other hand, after the Second World War new centers using mostly ancient motives from their neighbors appear.

The oriental carpets are commonly called the real carpets, even if this term is inadequate, since imitations don't exist.

We must appreciate the oriental carpets not only as useful objects, but also as works of art and masterpieces, which fascinate us with diversity of their motives, symbolism, imagination and colors.

Each true Muslim owns a carpet for prayers, while the Islamic religion is considered to be the base for designing most of the carpets worldwide. For this reason, many experts prefer using the expression the Islamic textile art, since the oriental carpets, from a long time ago, are considered to be a part of the religion of the Islamic world.

We can define the oriental carpets by the way they were made. They can be hand woven or hand knotted (entangling). The first are, generally known as rugs (kelim) and they are cheaper and rare to find. The second
are known as knotty, entangling carpets and are universally considered to be, aesthetically, the most important and best quality phenomena in the oriental textile art. They are usually of high quality, even though we can sometimes find poor quality samples on the market, most of which are long lasting; and if provided with enough attention and care can last for decades.

To sum up, we can conclude that authentic oriental carpet must be hand woven or hand knotted, coming from one of traditional carpets region, and has to follow specific primordial schemes, compositions and designs.

ORIENTAL CARPETS TODAY

To make the theoretical part of the task easier, it is necessary to classify oriental carpets. They can be grouped together in accordance to the design and motives: carpets with hunting scenes, patterns in the shape of medallions, flowers or vases; carpets for praying and carpets with geometrical designs.
The second method would be according to the manufacturers, and whether the carpets were made by nomads or semi-nomads with constant winter residence, or by artisans in workshops.
Due to the fact that the most common way to classify the carpets is by their place of origin, I will also use this method. Carpets can be classified in the following five groups:

1. Iranian (Persian), the biggest and most important group,
2. Turkmenistan group, which includes the famous red carpets, as well as the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Baluchestan carpets made in Central Asia.
3. Caucasus (Russian) group, which includes carpets where the geometrical patterns, is the main decoration,
4. Turkish (Anatolian) group; carpets from this group are rarely found today in our region,
5. Indian, Pakistani and Chinese group.