There are many attractive and interesting floor rugs out there that we can use to make our homes more beautiful. One of these is the Persian rug. A Persian rug comes from the Oriental rug family and can be traced all the way back to ancient Persia. There are several things that you should know about these rugs if ever you are on the lookout for one.

The biggest exporter of these Persian rugs is Iran. An authentic hand knotted or hand woven rug produced by skilled craftsmen may take many months to produce. That is why the prices for such rugs are truly exorbitant. The craftsmen take on the tedious process using only the best wool, cotton and sometimes silk to come up with some of the best looking rugs in the world. Silk is the most expensive material and can result in the rug being priced as high as the sky. That is why most silk Persian rugs are treasured collector’s items, and used as decorative wall displays and not placed on the floor.

These Persian beauties can be categorized into three types according to their sizes. Anything that is larger than 6 x 4 feet is known as a Farsh or Qalii’. Anything between 6 x 4 feet and smaller is known as the Qalicheh. Subsequently, a rough carpet is known as the Kilim.

Design wise, the surface of the Persian rug can either be covered all over with a motif, or decorated with a centre medallion, or decorated with a repetition of several different motifs. Different motifs and patterns have different meanings. Some of the traditional motifs that you can find are like the Gul, Boteh, Herati, Mina Khani, Shah Abbasi and the Rosette.

These days, the luxurious and exquisite designs found on these Iranian rugs have been copied and reproduced by other countries. Iran may be the producer of the authentic Persian rugs, but it has some serious competition from other countries that provide these rugs at a more affordable price. Many of these rugs today are also machine woven and even made from synthetic materials, which makes them more affordable and accessible to anyone.