Hereke Rugs

A Hereke rug is a rug woven in the design tradition of Hereke, the imperial workshop founded on the Marmara coast in 1843 under Sultan Abdülmecid to furnish Dolmabahçe Palace. Hereke drawing is fine, symmetrical and densely filled with flowers, arabesque and framed borders, and it is worked in silk, wool, cotton or a combination.

Two different objects share the name. One is hand-knotted, takes months or years, and is counted knot by knot on the back. The other is a Hereke-patterned rug — the same drawing, produced on a power loom, with no obligation to have been woven in Hereke at all. This page sets out how the tradition began, what its designs contain, and how to tell the two apart with the rug in front of you.

The workshop, and why it existed

Hereke was a court supplier before it was a market. The workshop was established in the nineteenth century under Sultan Abdülmecid, and its first commission was the floors of Dolmabahçe Palace. Weavers were brought in from across the empire, and the output went to palaces and mosques rather than to merchants, which is why the early pieces run to two extremes of scale: room-filling rugs for state halls, and small, very fine pieces for private rooms.

That origin still shapes the drawing. A Hereke design is a court design — closed, symmetrical, completely resolved, with the field, the corner pieces and the border all belonging to one plan. There is no village improvisation in it. Where an Oushak rug leaves the field open, a Hereke fills it.

What is actually in the pattern

Flowers first, then geometry. The repertoire runs to detailed floral sprays and arabesques, interlocking geometric panels, framed medallions, and occasionally a landscape or an animal figure. The composition is nearly always symmetrical on the long axis, and the border is drawn as a frame rather than as a running band.

Individual compositions carry names, and the older hand-knotted pieces in this collection are cataloged by them — Çeşm-i Bülbül, Yedi Dağın Çiçeği, Karpuzlu. The names describe the field: a spiraling stripe, a scatter of mountain flowers, a repeating rounded form. Reds, blues, greens and gold dominate the palette, and navy is the most common ground. Burgundy is used where the rug is meant to warm a dining room or a lobby, and a light ivory ground is used where the pattern has to carry the room on its own.

Silk, wool, cotton or viscose

The fiber decides the knot count, the price and the room the rug can live in.

Fiber	How it behaves	Typical formats here	Best for
Pure silk, hand-knotted	Cool to first touch, changes value as you walk around it, carries the finest drawing	94 × 154 cm (3'1" × 5'1") to 170 × 251 cm (5'7" × 8'3")	Rooms that are looked at more than walked on; wall display
Wool, hand-knotted	Springy, recovers after pressure, wears for generations	90 × 150 cm (2'11" × 4'11") to 198 × 297 cm (6'6" × 9'9")	Living rooms, studies, anywhere in daily use
Wool on cotton warp	Cotton warps hold the rug square and take the tension	Room sizes	Large pieces that must lie flat
Viscose or cotton, machine-woven	Even, light, reproduces the drawing at a fraction of the labor	160 × 230 cm (5'3" × 7'7") to 300 × 400 cm (9'10" × 13'1")	Big rooms on a budget; households with children

The finest hand-knotted silk piece in the collection is listed as 9 × 9 — nine knots per centimeter in each direction, or eighty-one knots to the square centimeter. That density is what makes a curved petal or a line of script possible at all. The machine-woven Efsun pieces are made at what Turkish mills call 100 tarak, a reed count that is the power-loom equivalent of a density figure. Browse pure silk rugs, hand-knotted rugs or machine-woven rugs depending on which of those you are actually shopping for.

How to tell a hand-knotted Hereke from a Hereke-patterned rug

Turn it over. On a hand-knotted rug the knots can be counted one by one across the back and the pattern reads almost as clearly from behind as from the front, in rows that are very slightly uneven. A machine-woven back is a regular mesh with the pattern muffled and a visible backing, and its fringe is stitched or glued on rather than being the continuation of the warp.

Then handle it. Real silk is cool at first touch, warms in the hand, and changes color as the angle of light changes; a bright, uniform sheen that does not shift is a sign of another fiber. Some hand-knotted pieces carry a workshop mark or a signature woven into one end. Neither construction is a fault — a Hereke-patterned machine rug is an honest object at an honest price — but the two should never be bought for each other's money. For the longer version, read what a Hereke rug is.

What drives the price

Four things, in order: fiber, knot density, size and the hours the loom was occupied. Silk costs more than wool because the yarn costs more and because the fineness it permits multiplies the number of knots. Density is the second lever, since a rug at eighty-one knots per square centimeter contains several times the labor of a coarser piece the same size. Hand-knotting costs more than machine weaving for the same reason. Older pieces in good condition are sought by collectors, and the second-hand hand-knotted rugs here are priced as individual objects rather than by the square meter.

Living with one

Vacuum regularly at a low suction setting, since strong suction pulls at fine pile. Blot a spill immediately with a clean cloth or paper towel, working from the outside in, and never rub. Keep the rug out of direct sun and away from damp, and avoid household chemical cleaners entirely. Send a silk piece only to a washer who handles silk, and have a wool rug in daily use professionally washed once or twice a year.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Hereke rug?

A Hereke rug is a finely knotted rug in the design tradition of Hereke, the imperial workshop founded on the Marmara coast in 1843 to weave for the Ottoman court. It is worked in silk, wool or cotton at a high knot density, in symmetrical floral and geometric drawing.

What is the difference between a Hereke rug and a Hereke-patterned rug?

A Hereke rug is hand-knotted in the traditional way. A Hereke-patterned rug carries the same drawing but is produced on a power loom, and it need not have been woven in Hereke. The back tells them apart: countable knots against a regular machine mesh.

Why are Hereke rugs expensive?

Because of fiber and hours. Silk yarn costs more than wool, high knot density multiplies the number of knots in the same area, and a single hand-knotted piece can occupy a loom for months or years. Size and the complexity of the drawing add to that.

How can I tell whether a Hereke rug is real silk?

Real silk is cool at first touch, warms in the hand, and shifts in color as the light angle changes. Look at the back as well: a hand-knotted silk rug shows individually countable knots and a pattern almost as clear as the front.

What colors are common in Hereke rugs?

Red, blue, green and gold, with navy the most frequent ground. Burgundy is used in dining rooms and lobbies where a warm ground suits the room, and ivory grounds are used where the drawing is meant to carry the space by itself.

How should a Hereke rug be cleaned?

Vacuum at a low suction setting, blot spills at once with a clean cloth without rubbing, and keep the rug out of direct sun and damp. Avoid household chemical cleaners, and use a professional washer once or twice a year for a deep clean.

What sizes do Hereke rugs come in?

Historically from mosque and palace scale down to small pieces for private rooms. In this collection the hand-knotted rugs run from about 90 × 150 cm to 198 × 297 cm, and the machine-woven pieces from 160 × 230 cm to 300 × 400 cm.

Halıcızade Halı Kilim, in Çayyolu, Ankara, keeps hand-knotted Hereke pieces and Hereke-patterned rugs side by side, which is the quickest way to learn the difference.

Last updated: 10 September 2026

Related collections: pure silk rugs · Turkish rugs · rare rugs · classic rugs