Antique Khotan Rugs

Buying Antique Rugs… We are currently in the midst of a major revival of traditional, hand-made rug weaving virtually throughout the rug-producing regions of the world. This movement began several decades ago in Turkey, initially at the instigation of European rug aficionados like Rainer Boehmer. Known by the acronym DOBAG, or Project DOBAG, the goal was not only to reproduce more authentically the range of designs current in Turkish weaving up through the nineteenth century, but to do so in handspun, vegetable-dyed wool. While it took a few years for weavers to recover the knack of using handspun fibers and combining the varying shades of color inherent to vegetable dyes, the results were impressive and they began to sweep the new rug market. Soon weavers were producing vegetable-dyed, handspun copies or close adaptations of various nineteenth century rugs types in Afghanistan, India, China, and Iran. By the late nineteen nineties, such production had become standard, largely supplanting the less authentic design trends and synthetic dyes that had come to dominate oriental rug weaving throughout the twentieth century. Consequently, it now seems to many potential rug buyers that they no longer need to go to the expense of buying an antique rug. Nowadays it is possible to acquire new rugs with the same sort of color, design, wool quality, and technical standards of the ones produced a hundred years ago or earlier in perfect condition for a fraction of the price. But is this really the case? Are new rugs of this sort really the equivalent of the ones they are copying or recreating?

Antique Tabriz Persian Rug

The answer depends on how closely one looks, or, to put it differently, how discriminating a buyer one is. For the vast majority of rug buyers, new rugs will suffice. In fact, many new rug buyers made be satisfied with machine-made rugs. Certainly, customers looking for quality modern design rugs will inevitably be drawn to new production pieces. But for those who enjoy traditional oriental carpets in Persian , or pieces of tribal and nomadic type, the pieces that are currently being produced will only meet their needs to a point. There is more to a rug than the specific configuration of its design, and while the use of handspun wool and vegetable dyes may recover traditional techniques, there is no substitute for the effects of time. What new rugs can never recreate, however well-made they may be, is the cultural milieu in which they were produced, the environment and experience that directly governed the weaver”s approach to pattern and design. And new rugs, so long as they are new, cannot have the delicate patination of the color and the polished surface that give antique rugs so much of the appearance for which they are prized. That only comes with time.

Antique Khotan Rugs

Let us expand a bit on these last two points. Cultural milieu or experience is extremely difficult to quantify and explain, but there can be no doubt that this is what imparted so much of the distinctive character that antique rugs still project to a discerning viewer. Rug weaving and design were an integral part of the culture of the people who made them up until the early twentieth century. Rug weaving was analogous to the traditional music of their culture or to their literature and mythology. It was part of their cultural or social structure, Today little of that culture remains intact as a living phenomenon, It has been supplanted by a new cultural outlook permeated by western conceptions arriving via film, TV, and the internet. The people making rugs today no longer think and observe the way their ancestors did. Consequently they can never produce traditional culture as a living, creative activity in the manner of their forebears. They can attempt to replicate it for commercial purposes, and they may even come remarkably close, but it can never really be the same. That is why a discriminating rug enthusiast cannot be satisfied by a new rug. There is a certain quality of life that affected the way old rugs were designed and made that cannot be recaptured today.

In the same way the passage of time affects rugs materially or physically. This is not always a good thing. Rugs wear down over the years. They can be affected by dryness and damp. They can become damaged and in need of repair. But over time antique rugs that have been properly cared for also acquire qualities that are admired and prized. Unlike many of the synthetic colors that came into use in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural vegetable dyes are remarkably resistant to fading, but they do soften or mellow a bit, especially at the tips of the fibers of the pile. This “patina” effects the play of light on the surface, varying the appearance of the colors, making them more translucent, and imparting a quality of depth, especially in conjunction with the irregular textures of high-quality handspun wool. Even a certain amount of wear is desirable. The shorter the pile, the crisper the design appears to be. The slow wearing of the pile also polishes it, making it even more lustrous and velvety. Only time can confer this gracefulness of age, as one may put it.

Antique Bakshaish Rugs

All the special qualities that make antique rugs desirable create market demand, which, in turn, intersects with rarity and availability to establish market price. Antique rugs are more expensive than new rugs because their number is finite, and because it becomes increasingly difficult to supply demand as rugs are purchased and disappear into private collection. Those who can appreciate the qualities and distinctions outlined above have long known that they must be willing to pay for them competitively, hence the higher price of antique rugs. But there is a silver lining here, so to speak. Antique rugs hold their value and even appreciate over time. If properly maintained by their owners, they can easily be resold or traded in against a new purchase. They are an investment, like any other fine antique or a piece of real estate. New rugs offer no such opportunity. They may someday be prized as antiques; only time will tell. But the day after they are purchased, they are worth considerably less than they were before. In my opinion, the pleasure that an antique rug offers to an informed and appreciative viewer makes it well worth the price. But when one takes into account the investment potential of a fine antique rug, the reasons to acquire one increase dramatically. Even those who are indifferent to the aesthetic qualities of antique rugs can see the financial advantage in acquiring them. But for those who can appreciate their beauty, antique rugs make a far more desirable and useful investment than a stock portfolio.