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Antique Area Rugs - Area rugs are just another facet of our evolution in this world. What did we do before we started weaving rugs? We killed animals and used their hides. We used them for warmth, and as floor coverings. Whatever the skins looked like, that's what our floor coverings looked like.
Think about it; with the start of the weaving industry, we domesticated the animals, whose hair / wool we would shear. We did not have to kill the animals, and we could shear them on a regular basis. They continued to produce wool for our weaving needs.
We began to dye the wool; and so the antique area rug weaving industry began. We produced a much more colorful product, and used our artistic talents to design. First we weaved rugs for our use, than it became an industry, which continues in much the same fashion even today.
The term " antique area rugs " refers to any area rug that is at least eighty years old. Limited in numbers, antique rugs will become even more rare as time goes on . In the antique rug world, the term "antique" implies more than just age.
The onset of the twentieth century ushered in the industrial era and a more global economy. This resulted in more Western influences in the Middle East than ever before. During this period, the uniqueness of the antique rugs, that once thrived in the native cultures, began to wane.
During the early part of the 20th century, economic instability began to set in. The productions became more commercial, less expensive and far less appealing. This resulted in the degradation of the rug production throughout. Designs, colors, overall quality and appeal all took a back seat as manufacturers looked to lower costs. True antique rugs are a testament to the time period prior to the advent of mass production.
A little known fact that I would like to talk about is price. Despite the difference in quality between the antique and new, many antique rugs might be less expensive than the newly manufactured ones. Antique Rugs have many more unique assets compared to their newer counterparts. For instance, antique carpets with hand-spun wool and natural dyes have a more luminous and animated surface. New rugs will never have the patina that the antiques do and they do not have any true intrinsic value. This makes antique rugs ideal decorative items as well as solid investment objects.
One of the the more subjective aspects of judging an antique area rug have to do with assessing its quality and its imperfections. When quality is assessed on the basis of the wool, dyes, and weaving technique, it is a fairly objective process. When the issue turns to drawing style, it becomes more of an issue of taste. The same is true with "imperfections". Dropped knots, looseness or inconsistencies in tightness are technical imperfections. But are abrash - abrupt changes in color, sudden changes in design, or adjustments in proportion at the corners or the borders or ends of the field to be judged as imperfections, or as changes that are part of the deliberate intention of the weaver, and therefore part of her or his creative expression?
Some buyers may be put off by such qualities. They may prefer a workshop rug that is perfectly straight, with consistent color and design. But others will appreciate that the personality of the village weaver confronts us every time she or he inserts a willful twist and turn of color or pattern, or in the weaver's struggle to maintain straight proportions in a wool foundation. In this way, weaver, is, in a sense, alive in the antique area rug in all such variations or inconsistencies.
Below we have selected a few types of antique area rugs for you to see. Simply click on the type of rug that you like to see a selection:
