Oriental rug is the umbrella trade term for hand-knotted rugs woven across a wide geography that includes Turkey, the Caucasus region, Iran, Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan), the Indian subcontinent, and parts of China. Persian rugs are the best-known subset of Oriental rugs, but the category is much broader.
Oriental rugs are traditionally divided into four major weaving traditions:
- Persian — rugs from Iran, with strong city, village, and tribal sub-categories
- Turkish (Anatolian) — rugs from Turkey, often using the symmetric (Turkish) knot
- Caucasian — rugs from the area between the Black and Caspian seas, generally geometric in design
- Turkoman / Central Asian — rugs from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and surrounding regions, often featuring repeating tribal medallions called guls
- East Asian — rugs from China, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), and Tibet
In rug retail, "Oriental rug" is typically used as a catch-all when the specific origin is unknown or when the rug is being described generally to a consumer. Most rug retailers and manufacturers in the U.S. trade use both terms — Oriental and Persian — depending on context.