Although Spain is not generally thought of as a rug producing region, Spanish carpets represent the most venerable and honored tradition of rug production in Europe, going back to the time when much of Spain was part of the Islamic world. Still, Spanish rugs were not Moorish products; native Spanish weavers had already learned the technique of making rugs by the fourteenth century, and they have continued to do so up to the twentieth century. Spanish pieces have a weave like no other pile carpets; they are truly knotted, not looped, in staggered rather than superimposed rows. Their coloration has always been soft, with dominant ivory grounds and pastel greens and yellows. Although some early Spanish carpets imitated those of Ottoman Turkey, they soon developed a distinctive, uniquely Iberian or European style of vinescroll ornament. Early pieces are highly desirable to collectors, while nineteenth and twentieth century examples make excellent room-size decorative rugs.
