Glossary of Rug Terms #8

Every month or so, we will post a few interesting rug-related terms and their definitions in this glossary for your knowledge and enjoyment. Always educate yourself on a topic before you make a purchase, especially with something like Persian Rugs!

This month we will be focusing on rug terms starting with the letter ‘B’.

Baby- a trade term for an oriental rug about 4 feet by 2 feet.

Back- the side of a rug normally placed against the floor. The side of a weaving not intended to be exposed.

Backing- Cotton, jute, synthetics, or other flexible materials used to form the back of a machine-made rug.

Balanced Plain Weave- A plain weave (the simplest interlacing of warp and weft) in which warp and weft are of the same size, equally spaced, and have the same count. Both sides are structurally identical.

Balanced Twill Weave- A float weave in which continuous wefts systematically skip warps and/or warps systematically skip wefts in a diagonal alignment and warp and weft counts are equal.

Basket Weave- A plain weave in which there are multiple warps and multiple wefts (such as pairs or triplets) interlaced. In a basket weave, the number of warps woven as a group equals the number of wefts woven as a group.

Bashtyk- A kirgiz tent bag.

Balkan carpets and kilims- Most of the weavings of Balkan countries have been strongly influenced by the occupation of Ottoman Turks.

Bamboo- Bamboo is sometimes depicted in Chinese rugs.

As a Taoist symbol, a bamboo tube is shown wrapped by a ribbon and containing several wands. It may be shown in full leaf as a motif in modern rugs. Generally, bamboo symbolizes endurance, the ability to bend without breaking.

Glossary Source: The Oriental Rug Lexicon (Paperback) By (author) Peter F. Stone