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 the most commonly occurring letter in the English language: T

Tabachi – So called ‘dead wool’. This term is ambiguous, but may refer to wool removed from a sheepskin in a tannery by a chemical process rather than by shearing. Such wool does not accept dyes well.

Taba Tabriz – A contemporary, thick Tabriz rug of rust and ivory with hunting or Safavid medallions designs.

Table carpet – Circular and cruciform pile rugs woven for the European market in sixteenth and seventeenth century Cairo. Earlier rugs have Mamluk designs and later rugs have Ottoman designs.

Tacke (Swedish) – A flatwoven bedcover or blanket.

Taimeh – A village south of Josan in the Hamadan area. Rugs of this village are double wefted with the symmetric knot on a cotton foundation.

The Herati pattern is used with a medallion and spandrels.

Tapestry weave – Any one of a variety of weft-faced weaves in which the pattern or design is created by colored ground wefts that are not usually continuous from selvage to selvage.

Tanchra – A thick rug, formerly woven in Algreia, used as a mattress. The rug has a loop pile of rope-like yarn.

T-band – A border in Chinese rugs, consisting of a continuous band of T-shapes alternating toward and away from the field.

Sometimes the band is rendered with a three-dimensional effect.

Texture- The tactile quality of the surface of a fabric, without regard to color or design. Its roughness, smoothness, hardness, softness, resilience and so on. Texture is the combined result of the fabric structure and the types of yarn and fibers used.

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