Rugs have been made in Turkey since the 12th century and were exported to Europe in large quantities until early in the 20th century. In 1922, Kemal Ataturk, after a victory in a war with Greece, expelled some two million Turks of Greek descent from the country. Unfortunately, these included most of Turkey’s rug makers.

Most Turkish carpets were woven in villages in Anatolia (the part of Turkey that lies in Asia Minor) in bright, rich colours with geometric forms such as the star and diamond as well as linear floral forms.

Turkish prayer rugs have mihrabs (the prayer niche which represents the prayer niche in the Great Mosque in Mecca) with pointed arches and stepped sides.

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The Indian Mogul emperors of the 16th and 17th centuries imported not only Persian carpets but their weavers as well. These produced finely woven floral and hunting rugs.

These weavers also made rugs for export, some incorporating European coats of arms. However, exports on a large scale began only at the end of the nineteenth century. These rugs may imitate almost any style but Turkish designs are the most common. The rugs are often made to a price with the cheapest combining jute with wool - the result being a very coarse and stiff pile.

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Simplicity of design, serenity of composition, a limited range of subdued and harmonious colours, usually blue or yellow in many shades. Symbolic motifs characterise traditional Chinese rugs. Frequently recurring designs in Chinese rugs include geometrics such as the familiar meander border; animals including various dragon forms, Fu dogs, storks, cranes, butterflies, and bats; realistic flowers; Taoist and Buddhist symbols; natural forms including clouds, water, and mountains; and many permutations of round medallions.

During the 19th century, rugs were made for export. These usually had a central dragon or ornate floral motif. At the end of the 19th century, aniline dyes replaced natural ones producing harsh and often garish colour schemes, with blue, gold and rose being the most common colours.

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Turkoman rugs are made by the nomads of Central Asia and Turkestan and include Afghan, Baluchi and Bokhara. Most are reddish and have a geometric design that incorporates the coat of arms (or "gul") of the individual tribe. Turkoman rugs are usually made by women and are highly regarded for their workmanship.

Turkoman weavers are also renowned for the quality and variety of their carpet bags and for weavings that decorated their animals, particularly, camel-flank hangings. 

In Afghan rugs, the ground colour is nearly always red. The main pattern usually consists of large octagons divided into four by blue and brown panels, the colours matching in opposite corners. Afghan rugs are always made of wool and often have long fringes.

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Caucasian rugs are made by various tribes in the mountainous regions between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Their rugs are generally small with wide borders and all-over geometric patterns, often incorporating stars, squares and swastikas. The best known include the Baku, Chichi, Daghestan, Kabistan, Kazak, Kuba, Shirvan, the flat-woven Soumak, and the Karabag.

The dominant colours in Caucasian rugs are red, blue, yellow, green and ivory.

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Traditional Oriental rugs are made on vertical looms strung with 3 to 24 vertical warp threads per centimetre. Working from bottom to top, the rug maker either weaves the rug for a flat surface or knots it to form a pile. After the rug is completely knotted, its pile is sheared and the warp threads at each end are tied off to form a fringe. the finer the yarn and the closer the warp threads are together, the finer the quality of the rug. Valuable, fine-textured rugs have 400 or more knots per square inch (62 per square centimetre); coarse rugs may have less than 50 knots per square inch (8 per square centimetre).

Traditional nomad rugs usually use wool for both the warp (vertical thread) and weft (horizontal thread). These rugs are likely to give a little with use; they may slant or go bumpy. Workshop rugs most commonly have a cotton warp as a foundation.

The colours used in oriental rugs often have special significance but this varies from place to place. For example, green is the colour of the Prophet and rarely used other than in prayer rugs in Moslem countries; in China, Iran and India, white symbolises grief; in China, yellow is the Emperor’s colour but in Moslem countries it represents piety; in Mongolia, blue represents authority and red represents wealth or joy.

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