This is a terrific resource

books:


	• Oriental Carpet Design: A Guide to Traditional Motifs, Patterns and Symbols P. R. J. Ford Thames & Hudson, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is a terrific resource

This book has the best information I've found on distinguing one type of rug from another. Many books give information about the major types of rugs...they're a dime a dozen. Ford breaks everything down into what specific tribes and villages weave, and tells us what the weavers use for warps and wefts, distinguishing colors, area motifs and designs, and more.

This book is definitely academic in nature, but this is exactly the kind of fact-filled information I've been searching for. I had thought I would find it in Peter Stone's works, but even Stone's 2004 book on motifs does not come close to what Ford did twenty years ago. I currently own about 50 books on oriental rugs, and Ford's book offers the most comprehensive, detailed information of any of them.

If you want to move from being a novice to becoming a more knowledgeable buyer and rug lover, you will want this book.

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Oriental Carpet Design

This is an excellent book to find all the information one needs on Persian and Oriental carpets. Very informative, and beautiful colour plates.

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An Excellent Textbook

I collect Oriental rugs and Oriental rug books. This book is not for the beginner, but is meant for in-depth study of the subject of Oriental rugs. As you read you are directed to other pages for study and comparison. This is a time consuming but valuable process. If one wants to really study Oriental rugs this book can elevate you from beginner to a person who is comfortable with the subject and able to talk with experts. I used this book as a self teaching text book and loved it.

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THE Rug Book

I've spent years of my life looking for a well-written book on rugs. I've poured hundreds of dollars into recommend volumes, only to be dismayed by their lack of coverage, and horrified by their exclusive focus on tribal rugs. Eiland's "Oriental Carpets" was a joke of epic proportions, and Eiland must be a confidence trickster of notable talent if his book is the benchmark in rug analysis; he must have been paid by the word, as I have yet to encounter so much outright nonsense condensed into the pages of one book.

Quite by chance, I found Ford's book at a local thrift shop. The book was in impeccable condition, so I was keen to give it a chance. What a contrast between his book on rugs and all of the other "scholarly" volumes unnecessarily clogging up the world.

Ford's coverage is not on a global scale-primarily Iran-but his focus on design and construction made for a refreshing change of pace. Ford groups his analysis not by region, but by design; rugs are primarily identified by their design. With this in mind, Ford categorizes rugs by their dominant motifs, i.e. Botah, Herati, Geometric, and Floral patterns. Equipped with this knowledge of patterns, construction, and dyes, it's easy to extrapolate a rug's origins with some degree of reliability.

Ford emphasizes 20th century rugs, as his expectation is that the bulk of his readers will lack the means to collect antique rugs of flawless provenance. In this respect, Ford shines out from his competitors; the book is infinitely useable, as other tomes tend to focus on rugs of the highest pedigree.

Lastly, I was won over to Ford, because he does not over-emphasize one particular design, or one region, over another. Every other book on rugs will heap high praise on rugs from the Caucasus, and consign 20th century curvilinear floral rugs to the lowest order of damnation.

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Wonderful!

I bought this book after going to the library and checking out a number of carpet books - I was looking for a reference that would teach me some of the history of rug making and the people who make these incredible pieces of art as well as the practical side such as what to look for in a rug. This book is great at teaching about the different types of rugs. There are color pictures on every page, there are drawings of specific patterns so you can see specifically what make a rug one type rather than another, there are uncommon examples of types of rugs shown, etc. Its quite a good book (which is why I bought it after returning the library copy). This book is ok at teaching about the history/people or about how to tell a good quality rug - the intro goes into some good detail about things like knot types, weaves, use of synthetic dyes, chinese rugs etc but it's a fanatsic guide to decoding the different traditional motifs and patterns. I'm giving it 4 stars rather than 5 only because the text is so dry and they don't really give the stories - they give more dry facts such as this type of rug was woven in this manufacturing/village setting in x,y,z town. It would have been niceto have more details about the people and about the symbolism of the motifs. But, like I said, I knew all that before I bought the book since I had checked t out at the library. I use this book to augment others that I ended up buying that do tell more of the stories.

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reviews: page 1, 2

"One of the most useful books to cover the whole of the field...Mr. Ford is to be congratulated on having produced a work that should stand the test of time."?Carpet Review Weekly

In this comprehensive survey, P. R. J. Ford shows readers how to recognize the different structural and design features of oriental rugs and carpets. The designs are grouped according to their essential characteristics. This approach illuminates the cultural background of each, revealing at once the similarities and the differences between the various carpet-weaving areas

Illustrations of modern types, with descriptions of their key characteristics?construction, materials, sizes, colors?and of the clues that establish a rug's precise origins, appear together with a balanced appraisal of the qualities of modern production from towns, villages, and tribal areas. Extensive cross-referencing and detailed indexes make this an invaluable reference guide for dealers and collectors, and for anyone who has an appreciation of and interest in rugs. 800+ illustrations and photographs, 400 in color.

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