A rug from the Anadolu Şal Rugs collection Rug on the coverAnadolu Şal Rugs

Collection

Anadolu Şal Rugs

Woven with soft wool nourished by these lands and knotted by skillful hands. With rare patterns, each one is a treasure of culture and beyond that, a carpet with a unique soul that makes the place it covers a home. Artworks that you never tire of watching, that make you forget the day's burdens. The woven essence of Anatolia in carpet form.

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  • 37rugs and kilims

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Products

  18. Panels drawn after Hereke, Kayseri and Oushak, woven in India

    Multicolor Patchwork Loom-Woven Wool Rug, 200×300 cm Halıcızade 200×300 cm

    Multicolor Patchwork Loom-Woven Wool Rug

    Power-Loomed Rug · Wool · Cotton ·Colorful

    from 51.000 TL ≈ 8.600 TL/m²

    • All-natural fibers
    • Woven in wool

An Anadolu Şal rug is a hand-knotted Anatolian wool rug carrying the shawl drawing — a dense, repeating field of small motifs taken from woven and printed shawls rather than from rug design. It is tied with the double Gördes knot, woven across most of Anatolia but concentrated in the Aegean, and finished with hand-braided fringes.

The shawl pattern is one of the few Anatolian motifs with a documented point of origin rather than a diffuse one. It entered the rug literature from Zara, a district of Sivas, which is why a large part of this collection is listed as Sivas Zara work. What follows is where the drawing comes from, what makes a rug an Anadolu Şal rather than a rug with small motifs on it, and what is on the shelf.

Where does the shawl drawing come from?

From cloth, not from the rug loom. Anatolian shawls carry a close-packed field of small repeating motifs, and weavers translated that field onto the rug loom at floor scale. The version that entered the literature as the "şal deseni" emerged around Zara in Sivas, and rugs carrying it are still sold as Sivas Zara shawl rugs. The tradition is worked in nearly every region of Anatolia, but the weight of production sits in the Aegean.

What makes it an Anadolu Şal rug?

Three things, and the fringe is the one you see first.

  • Braided fringes. The warp ends are plaited by hand rather than left loose or machine-bound. On this series it is the identifying finish.
  • The double knot. The pile is tied with the symmetrical Gördes knot, looped around two warp threads instead of one. The durability of these rugs comes from the knot, not from the density.
  • Yapağı wool. The yarn is spun from the freshest, most lanolin-rich fleece shorn from the animal, which is where the surface sheen and the soft hand come from.

What is actually in the collection?

Forty-two pieces, and they fall into three drawing families. Every one of them lists wool in the pile. Thirty-seven are hand-knotted; the remaining five are loom-woven. Thirty-six carry a Türkiye tag; the rest are woven in India or Afghanistan to the same drawing. Halıcızade Halı Kilim is in Çankaya, Ankara.

Drawing familyPiecesWhat it looks like
Sivas Zara shawl22The close-packed shawl field, small motifs repeating edge to edge, usually multi-color on a warm ground
Patchwork14Squares of shawl drawing set side by side, each square its own color, often assembled at runner or room scale
Other shawl-pattern series6Şahzade and Karnaval pieces carrying the shawl drawing, including loom-woven models in single strong colors

What sizes does it run to?

From 60 × 90 cm (2' × 3') up to 250 × 341 cm (8'2" × 11'2"), with a run of hallway lengths in between — 80 × 290 cm, 85 × 301 cm, 84 × 309 cm. Hand-knotted pieces come off the loom at whatever size they come off at, so the listings read 121 × 182 or 173 × 241 rather than a catalog size. The one square piece measures 250 × 270 cm.

Where does one go in a house?

Living rooms and hallways, mostly. The dense pattern sets up a deliberate contrast against plain, flat-fronted furniture, and it sits just as well with carved wood, where the two patterns argue in a useful way. Kitchens work if the piece is small enough to lift and wash. The runners are the obvious answer for a corridor that would otherwise be a long empty stripe.

How do you wash one?

Wool with plant-dyed color wants patience rather than chemistry. Lift a liquid spill straight away by blotting with paper towel; for a solid, work from the outside of the mark inward with the edge of a spoon. Rinse the marked area under running water, work up a lather with plain white soap that carries no added chemistry, and rinse the soap out. Press the water out by hand along the direction the pile lies, lay the rug flat somewhere clean and dry, lift the remaining water with dry paper towel, comb the pile back the right way, and leave it out of direct sun to dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Anadolu Şal rug?

A hand-knotted Anatolian wool rug carrying the shawl drawing: a dense repeating field of small motifs borrowed from woven shawls, tied with the double Gördes knot and finished with hand-braided fringes.

Where does the shawl pattern come from?

From shawl cloth rather than from rug design. The version recorded in the literature emerged around Zara in the province of Sivas, and rugs carrying it are sold as Sivas Zara shawl rugs. The tradition is worked across Anatolia, most heavily in the Aegean.

Are Anadolu Şal rugs hand-knotted?

Thirty-seven of the forty-two pieces listed are hand-knotted with the symmetrical Gördes knot. The remaining five are loom-woven. Every piece in the collection lists wool in the pile.

What are the braided fringes for?

They are the finish that identifies the series. The warp ends are plaited by hand after the rug leaves the loom rather than being knotted loose or bound by machine, and a plaited end holds together longer under a vacuum.

What sizes are available?

From 60 by 90 cm up to 250 by 341 cm, including hallway runners around 85 by 301 cm and one square piece at 250 by 270 cm. Hand-knotted rugs are woven to their own dimensions, so the sizes are rarely round.

What is the difference between the Sivas Zara and patchwork pieces?

Sivas Zara pieces carry one continuous shawl field across the whole rug. Patchwork pieces set squares of shawl drawing side by side, each square in its own color, which makes them read as brighter and more broken up.

How should an Anadolu Şal rug be cleaned?

Blot liquid spills immediately and lift solids from the outside of the mark inward. Wash a marked area with plain white soap and water, press the water out along the pile direction, and dry the rug flat out of direct sunlight.

Related collections: Anatolian rugs · hand-knotted rugs · hallway runners · wool rugs