Vintage Turkish rugs are a special kind of beauty. They can add a sense of majesty to any room, as well as serve as a focal point and really pull a space together. It’s important to take proper care of them, however, to keep them looking beautiful and new.
Having a rug professionally cleaned is one way to do this. This will also help to keep it safe from damage. A professional rug cleaner is able to work with many different types of rugs and can help to clean them properly. This will ensure that the rug stays safe and looks its best for as long as possible.
As a general rule, vintage turkish rugs are woven in a variety of styles and materials. They can be made from silk or wool, and they may feature a range of patterns and colors. They can also be overdyed, which is a process that is becoming increasingly popular. The overdyed rug method is often referred to as “reverse” over-dyeing, since it involves using the original rug as a base and then dyeing it again in order to bring out the color that it originally had. This is something that has become quite popular in the past few years, and it’s something that can be done to many different types of rugs.
The first major wave of oriental antique carpets to enter the West came from Turkey. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the country was in the midst of an extraordinary oriental revival. Rugs from the area, particularly those incorporating culturally significant designs and rich, lustrous wool, became especially desirable by Western consumers.
These rugs ranged from flat-woven kilims to lush knotted pieces known as hali. Most Turkish rugs use the symmetrical Ghiordes knot, which wraps each weft thread around two warp threads at the same time, imparting a remarkable amount of lushness and durability to the finished piece. Some of the most distinctive motifs found in these rugs included floral, geometric, and figurative, and they reflected the regional culture in which they were woven.
Among the most famous of these pieces were the early Anatolian animal carpets, which featured such images as dragon and phoenix that they even made it into many European paintings from the 14th to 16th centuries. These were woven by nomadic shepherds throughout the region, and they were characterized by soft, lustrous wool of notably high quality.
The Turkish rugs of the town weaving traditions are generally more refined in design, with clearly rendered, strongly geometric compositions. Examples include the Melas rug, which features exquisite pastel shades, and the Bergama rug, which is noted for its dramatic multi-medallion designs. In addition, the city of Van weaves a number of finely crafted carpets in the prayer rug format.