How to determine the age of a rug? This is a question that must’ve popped up in your mind numerous times when shopping for handmade rugs.
Identifying antique rugs may sound tricky, but after reading this guide, you’d definitely end up knowing rugs better.
So, let’s get into it!
How to Determine the Age of a Handmade Rug?
Finding out how old is a rug is one of the major focus points for anyone investing in antique rugs of any style. Whether it’s a Khurjin handmade rug, an old Bokhara, or any other antique rug, its age would have a direct impact on the rug’s value.
But determining the exact age of an antique rug can be tricky even for experienced rug enthusiasts. It’s undoubtedly a hard skill to acquire, but surely one of the most important ones if you’re going to invest in handmade rugs.
This is how you can identify an antique rug:
1. Examine the Rug’s Weaving Technique
While the materials of most handmade antique rugs are natural, such as wool, silk, cotton, or jute, the way the rug was woven differs.
Rug weaving techniques depict not only the rug’s place of origin and the tradition that it was born into, but also the rug’s age, because knotting styles have continually evolved overtime.
There are a few primary weaving techniques that you’d notice particularly in antique rugs. Such as:
- Flat-weave Rugs or Kilims
Flat woven rugs, also known as Kilims or Dhurries in the Asian subcontinent, are rugs that don’t have a pile. These rugs are crafted by stretching the cotton or wool fibers on a loom to create a ‘weft’. Afterwards, more fibers are interwoven in the weft, known as the ‘warp’ of a flatweave rug.
This type of rugs don’t have a pile, which means their texture is rougher as compared to luxurious wool handmade rugs such as the Khurjin rugs.
- Hand-Knotted Rugs
There are various hand-knotting techniques that have been used for rug making since centuries. The hand-knotting tradition involves knotting fibers of wool or silk around a cotton weft on a rug loom. The length of these fibers determines the pile height of a rug.
Hand-knotted rugs are available with both open and closed back styles. This means that when you examine the rug’s underside you may be able to see the knots, or the rug’s back might be covered with fabric.
- Hooked Rugs
Hooked rugs were popular during the 1840s. As the name suggests, a hooked rug is made by hooking wool fibers through the rug backing. The pile of these rugs is different from hand-knotted carpets.
- Braided Rugs
These rugs are popularly used in contemporary décor. Braided rugs are a part of the American folk tradition where braids of wool are created and then sewn together to create a flat floor covering.
2. Identify the Rug Type
Handmade rugs are made in a wide range of different styles.
While the most important thing a rug’s style tells us is its origin, you can also use this feature to identify the age of a rug.
You can look at antique rugs from various cultures, such as Khurjin rugs, Pakistani rugs, Baluchi rugs, etc. and examine its appearance and construction to find out the era of its creation.
For example, Perian and Oriental rugs of all types have the following features in common:
- The rugs feature geometric motifs and central medallions
- The design pattern of these rugs is often symmetrical and balanced
- There is often a border accompanied with a central medallion or multiple medallions, such as in case of handmade Khurjin rugs. Or, the rug has a symmetrical design all over its surface with a similar border on all sides, such as Bokhara or Jaldar rugs.
- Common rug colors include neutral tones such as shades of ivory, beige, and off-white. You’d also see a lot of red, blue, and black in Persian rugs.
On the other hand, if you’re looking at Caucasian rugs, you’d see a lot of animal imagery and symbols that relate to the natural environment, such as the ‘tree of life’ or the cypress tree.
Similarly, Scandinavian rugs are often asymmetrical and lack figurative representations. These rugs have patterns that are highly geometric and somewhat abstract.
After you’ve examined the rug pattern and style, relate it to the era in which similar style rugs were commonly crafted and you’d be able to get an estimate of the rug’s age.
3. Does the Rug Look Old?
The most obvious and important characteristic to look for in Antique rugs is whether or not do they actually look old?
Some common age clues that you may want to look for include:
- Look for dates in the Arabic font woven into the design of a Persian or Oriental rug. The date when the rug was crafted was usually added in the border of the rug. Although this isn’t the most reliable method of determining an antique rug’s age, it can be a good starting point for any beginner.
- Examine the rug’s colors carefully. Synthetic dyes weren’t available in the market until the early 1920s. So, if the rug you’re looking at doesn’t feature bright hues and the colors are faded in uniformity, there are chances it was crafted before the 1920s using natural dyes.
- To check if the faded rug colors are synthetic or natural, fold the rug to spread the pile and then look at the fibers closely from top to the foundation. If the colors get dark towards the foundation, it means the rug has faded due to light exposure and is probably made of synthetically dyed wool.
- Rugs that are old feel less fuzzy as compared to newer rugs. That’s because walking on the rug causes its underside to get abraded or polished.
- A rug that’s very old would appear tightly woven, but still somewhat supple and floppy.
- An old rug is definite to show some signs of wear and tear as well as restoration. Look at the back of the rug to check whether it has been repaired or not.
Lastly, consult a trusted rug dealer to get expert opinion on how old your rug is!
