How to Spot a Genuine Hand-Knotted Rug: 7 Checks for Persian Rugs, Gabbeh and More

Many rugs sold as Persian rugs or Gabbeh are machine-made or hand-tufted copies. They can look similar in a photo, but they are made very differently, last far less, and should cost far less. Here are seven checks you can do yourself, in a shop or with the photos on a product page.

Three ways a rug can be made

1. Turn it over and look at the back

On a hand-knotted rug the design shows clearly on the back, and you can see individual knots that are slightly uneven in size and alignment. A machine-made rug shows the design too, but in a perfectly regular grid, often with straight lines of weft running across. If the back is covered by a canvas or cloth, it is hand-tufted, not knotted.

2. Check the fringe

On a hand-knotted rug the fringe is the end of the warp threads that run through the whole rug. It cannot be pulled off. On machine-made and tufted rugs the fringe is usually a separate strip, sewn or glued on afterwards. Flat-woven kilims and some tribal rugs finish their ends differently, which is fine.

3. Look at the side edges

Hand-knotted rugs have their sides wrapped by hand in wool (overcasting), and the edges are often slightly wavy. Machine-made rugs have a very neat, uniform machine-stitched binding.

4. Part the pile

Fold the rug back on itself along a row. On a hand-knotted rug you will see rows of knots tied around the warps at the base of the pile. On a tufted rug you will see U-shaped loops pushed into a backing.

5. Expect small irregularities

Genuine hand-knotted rugs are rarely perfectly rectangular. The length and width can differ by a few centimetres from end to end, motifs vary slightly, and the colour shifts in bands where a new batch of hand-dyed wool was used (abrash). These are signs of handwork, not defects.

6. Check the material

Good wool feels springy and slightly oily from lanolin. Very shiny, slippery fibre on a cheap rug is often polypropylene or another synthetic. Rugs sold cheaply as silk are frequently viscose (art silk, rayon), which looks like silk but is weaker and marks easily when wet. A reliable seller states the material clearly.

7. Check the origin, the description and the price

• Persian or Persian-style: a Persian rug is woven in Iran. Words like ペルシャ風 (Persian-style) or ペルシャ柄 (Persian design) describe a look, not where or how it was made.
• Gabbeh or Gabbeh-style: genuine Gabbeh is hand-knotted with a thick pile. Many low-priced ギャッベ are hand-tufted or machine-made.
• Price: a hand-knotted rug of about 200×250cm takes months to weave. If it costs the same as a machine-made rug, it is almost certainly not hand-knotted. See our rug price guide for realistic ranges.
• The seller: look for the country where it was woven, the material, the exact size, close-up photos of the back and fringe, and a clear return policy.

Checklist

• The design is clearly visible on the back, with slightly uneven knots
• The fringe is part of the warp, not sewn on
• The sides are wrapped by hand
• No glued canvas backing
• Small irregularities in size and colour
• Wool or silk is stated, and the origin is stated
• The price makes sense for hand-knotting

At RUGINZA

Every rug we sell is hand-made: hand-knotted, or hand-woven in the case of kilims. Each product page states the country where it was woven, the material and the exact size, with close-up photos that usually include the back. If you have any question about a rug, please contact us before you order.

Persian rugs · Gabbeh · Afghan rugs · Pakistani rugs