Home > Carpet Making > Oriental Rugs Glossary

Painted Rugs: A process of actually painting the rug to improve its look. Also if you touch-up worn areas with markers.

Patina: The surface appearance of a rug usually mellows with age or use.

Pazyryk: Earliest complete carpet.

Persian Knot: Looped around one thread with only a half-turn around the other thread.

Pendant: A small flower or cluster of flowers at the top and bottom of a medallion.

Perepedil: A Caucasus town in the Kuba region which is known for finely knotted 19th century rugs. The rugs' most common design element resembles a pair of ram's horns often together with a kufic border.

Pictorial Rug: A rug which depicts representations of people, places or any other images other than the conventional design motifs.

Pillar Rug: A type of Chinese long and narrow rug which wraps around pillars in a temple. The dragon is a typical design motif.

Pile: Face of the rug where the knot ends are cut, normally made of wool or silk.

Plain Weave: Used to describe a weave in which the warp and weft are of equal tension and spacing. On the surface the warp and weft are equally visible.

Point: One tuft of pile.

Polyester: Synthetic fiber most often used in staple spun yarns.

Polypropylene/Olefin: Synthetic fiber used extensively in machine made rugs. This low-cost fiber is colored in the pellet phase of production. Performs best when headset and/or used in a dense construction.

Prayer Rug: A rug with a representation of mosque or arched prayer area. Columns may be shown supporting the arch with a lamp hanging from the arch's apex.

Programmed Rugs: Weave the same design in different sizes.

Pushti: Persian term for a scatter rug, normally 2 x 3.