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The Kinds of Rug Knots

There are basically two kinds of "knots" used to make most pile-woven Oriental rugs: "Persian" and "Turkish" knots (but see also how Tibetan rugs are made). Both Persian (Senneh) and Turkish (Ghiordes) knots are usually tied around pairs of warp strings (but see "jufti knots" below).

The Persian or Senneh knot is asymmetric and may be open to either the right or left. These four Persian knots are open to the right. Turkish or Ghiordes knots are symmetric. This example shows four Turkish knots.

Jufti Knots

Jufti or "false" knots can be either Persian or Turkish style. Jufti knots are tied around four warps instead of the normal two. A rug made with jufti knots uses half the material and takes only half as much time to make -- but probably will only last half as long! It is common with some rug types (such as BOKHARAS) to find areas of jufti knots interspersed with regular Persian knots.


Persian Jufti


Turkish Jufti

Who uses which knot type? Most weaving areas use the Persian knot. Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and some areas of northwestern Iran use the Turkish knot.


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