Oriental Carpet Design: A Guide to Traditional Motifs, Patterns and Symbols

Great reference

Whether you're trying to identify where a rug came from, understand its design or construction, or just find others like it, Oriental Carpet Design is the beautifully illustrated classic reference.

I haven't given much thought to oriental carpets yet. But, being confronted with a heritage of a bundle of carpets, I thought it was high time to catch up on this subject. P.R.J. Ford's book was mentioned favourably, and so I decided to give it a try. And it was up to my expectations, although I haven't been through more than a fourth of the book yet. (Yes, you want to study this carefully!) Mr Ford must have dedicated much of his life to the study of oriental carpets, and his judgement, backed up by photos of the carpets he is discussing, makes sense to a newbie. Studying (browsing isn't enough) this book will give you an enhanced pleasure in "reading" carpets. It may also give you a little edge in your bargains with the dealer you trust. And, above all, you can learn to appreciate a craft or art, that has created a unique cultural achievement.

This is a comprehensive, well-researched, and lavishly illustrated guide to Oriental carpet design. Despite this, the book is actually rather limited in its coverage: the vast majority of the rugs the author describes are from the mid-20th century. Therefore, "Oriental Carpet Design" may somewhat disappoint serious collectors, and will provide novices a surfeit of information on rugs from a very specific time in history. As an alternative, while it focuses on 19th century, museum-quality rugs which are beyond the reach of most of us, I think Murray Eiland's "Oriental Carpets: A Complete Guide" remains the best single volume on the subject.

First of all, this book is gorgeous. It would be worth having just for the photos alone. This book is intended to help you identify "oriental" carpets from their motifs and features. The author considers the original heartlands of the oriental carpet to be Turkey, Persia, the Caucasus, Turkoman Russia, Afghanistan, and Sinkiang. Sometimes books on this subject are organized by region (Shiraz, Heriz, etc.) This book is organized by design characteristics, such as vase, geometric, floral, etc. This makes identifying a specific rug much easier! Highly recommend.

This book contains much information and many colored pictures. Obviously, the author is very knowledgeable in the subject matter. I like to browse through it pages and read the text, and I learn new things every time I do that. My only criticism (and that is why I gave it only 3 starts) is its organization. The traditional way books on Oriental rugs and carpets are organized is according to region of origin. The author of this book tried something new – categorizing by design. This decision is very unfortunate as it makes the book practically useless as an aid for establishing the origin of a rug in any systematic way. Very few rug weavers from one village will produce a rug that is identical to a rug produced in a neighboring village. Furthermore, they are unlikely to produce a rug identical to one woven by another weaver in the same village. Having said that, there is something in common for all rugs coming from the same area. It is very difficult to define the "Shirazness" of a Shiraz or the "Tabrizness" of a Tabriz or the “Kazakness” of a Kazak, but the experienced rug dealer or collector will be able to identify the region of origin immediately when seeing a rug; if not precisely then at least the general area. One often hears a collector looking at a rug for the first time saying something like “this feels like a Sarouk” before examining it more closely. This “feeling” is a result of seeing many “Sarouks” and developing the sense of what “Saroukness” feels like. So even though the new “Sarouk” is not identical to any of the “Sarouk” one had seen before, that feeling will direct her to take this as the starting point. The closer examination of the knot, the colors and design, whether it is a single or double weft weave etc. is just for more exact identification and confirmation of the first impression upon seeing the rug. I see this the same way as identifying a piece of music. It is impossible to define what ingredients makes a piece sound like Bach but the music lover would be able to tell upon hearing a single phrase that it is likely a Bach. Listening more carefully would enable one to hone in on the identity of the piece.Oriental rugs from all parts of the Middle East, Central and Western Asia and the Caucasus, all use very much the same design elements, colors and materials. One can find medallions, geometric or floral patterns in every genre. It is how these elements are combined together that gives a rug its unique identity. Perhaps the only exceptions to this are certain types of old Tekkeh Bukharas that use a very typical and unmistaken design. Thus, choosing to organize the book according to design doomed this book for failure in achieving its stated objective of being "a handbook on rug identification, a practical to the six hundred or so basic design styles..." (First line in the Introduction chapter).The first chapter of the book is entitled The Boteh and it covers rugs that have the Boteh motif in their design. The Boteh motif is very common and can be found in practically every rug making region. So this chapter discusses rugs from the Caucasus, Heriz, Serabend, Hamadan, India, and more; practically from every region. These rugs have nothing in common other than using this one motif in their design. Also, because of sorting by design the reverse is true: Rugs from the same area are discussed in multiple places. For example, Senneh rugs are discussed in The Boteh, Universal Design, Geometric Design, and Floral Medallion-Plain Designs chapters. This is the case with almost every major regional category. The reader interested in reading about rugs of a particular region must jump between multiple chapters and the index to piece together all the information provided about such rugs. Another problem is that it is often very difficult to decide where one should start looking for information leading to the identification of a particular rug. Many rugs will have multiple characteristics that could place them in multiple categories. If my rug has two octagonal medallions and a surface filled with floral patterns with Botehs in the four corners where should I start my search for its identity? Would I find it in the chapter on geometric designs, or Medallion Designs? Perhaps I should start with Floral, or maybe with Floral Medallion-Plain or Boteh?Having said all this, I would compliment the author for the huge amount of very detailed information and the many beautiful colored pictures compiled in this volume. If he has any intention to publish a revised edition I would highly recommend that he re-organizes the book according to the area of origin. Although there are many books on the market that do that, most fall short by not making the categories sufficiently fine. All books that I am aware of divide the region into the following regions: Anatolia or Turkey, Persia, Turkoman/Afghanistan, The Caucasus, and China. Some books bring examples of Syrian and Egyptian carpet, but these have only historical and academic interests as these areas have not been major rug producing centers for a number of centuries. The above areas are vast and consist of many regions that have been producing very different types of rugs that are rarely discussed in a systematic way. Mr. Ford’s book contains much valuable information about regional differences and sameness, sometimes to the point of discussing the commonality if difference between rugs produced by neighboring villages in the same region. Unfortunately, this information is lost due to his unfortunate choice of organizing the book by design.

I love Oriental rugs and wanted to learn more about the design and history. This book seems very well-researched and features lots of illustrations, which is helpful. I wanted a book that could also serve as a reference guide to look up styles, regions and terms to help me identify them. Unfortunately, using it this way is very difficult, I'm finding. For a novice, this book may be too advanced and the indexing could be better. Overall, it's a good book that "dives deep" into this ancient art form.

If you have to get just one book about carpets, this is the one. I own many books on the subject, but none can compare for the depth of information and the quality of the images. Ford just knows more, and organizes the text and images better, than anyone else.