Persian and Turkish Rugs: How to Tell Them Apart

By Storied Rugs9 min read

High view of a navy floral rug beside a rust sofa, and a red medallion rug under a round dining table beyond a brick doorway

The surest way to tell a Persian rug from a Turkish one is the knot on the back. Persian weavers usually tied an asymmetric knot, and Turkish weavers a symmetric one.^[1] The design and the colors then back up what the knot tells you: Persian city rugs lean toward curving flowers, Turkish rugs toward bold geometry. No single sign is certain, so read them together.

Every rug we sell is vintage, about fifty years old, and no two are the same. So treat what follows as reliable signals, not hard borders. The two traditions overlap, and there are plenty of honorable exceptions.

Check the knot first: symmetric or asymmetric

The knot is the best test, because it is part of the structure and not a matter of taste. A knot is a loop of wool tied onto the warp, the threads that run the length of the rug. Thousands of knots, cut short, make the pile, the soft surface you walk on.

Persian weaving usually uses the asymmetric knot, also called the Senneh or Persian knot. Asymmetric means one-sided. The yarn wraps fully around one warp thread and only passes behind the next. This one-sided wrap packs neatly and suits fine detail, which is why so many Persian city rugs can hold flowing, curved lines.^[2]

Turkish and Anatolian weaving usually uses the symmetric knot, also called the Ghiordes or Turkish knot. The yarn wraps around both warp threads and comes up evenly between them. It is a sturdy, balanced knot, and it suits bold, upright, geometric shapes.^[3]

Corner of a navy, rust and cream rug turned over on a pale oak floor, its back showing rows of small knot bumps — The back of a hand-knotted rug, where each small bump is one knot. Up close, in good light, the way the bumps sit tells you which knot the weaver tied.

How to check the back

Turn the rug over and look closely at the back in good light. With a symmetric (Turkish) knot, each knot shows as two small bumps sitting evenly side by side. With an asymmetric (Persian) knot, the tuft leans to one side, so the knots look slightly offset. A magnifying glass helps, and so does patience. The pattern becomes clear once you have studied a few rows.

The back also tells you whether the rug was knotted by hand at all. A glued cloth backing, or a pattern as regular as graph paper, almost always means a copy. How to tell if a Persian rug is real goes through those checks.

One honest note: some Persian weavers use the symmetric knot too, especially in the northwest around Tabriz and Heriz.^[2] So the knot points you in a strong direction. Read it alongside the design before you decide.

Persian knot vs Turkish knot at a glance

The Turkish knot, the symmetric one, brings both ends of the yarn up together between two warp threads. The Persian knot, the asymmetric one, brings each end of the tuft up separately.^[4] That small difference is all you are looking for on the back of a rug.

The names can mislead you. Although the town of Senneh gave the Persian knot one of its names, its own weavers tie the Turkish knot.^[5] Neither knot is a mark of quality on its own. Good wool, sound dyes, close knotting and careful use make a good rug, whichever knot holds the pile.

Design: curves versus corners

Design is usually the first thing people notice, and it makes a good second opinion after you have looked at the back.

Persian city rugs lean curvilinear, which simply means built from flowing curves. Picture a central medallion, a large shape in the middle of the rug, floating on a field of scrolling vines, palmettes and flowers. Corner pieces often frame the whole design. Weaving centers such as Tabriz, Kashan, Mashhad and Kerman became famous for this refined, garden-like style. The weaver works from a drawn plan, so the curves stay graceful and precise.

Deep red Kashan rug with flowers and vines under a cream linen sofa and cane armchairs in a paneled Georgian living room — A Kashan, 9 feet 11 inches by 13 feet 3 inches, with flowers and vines spread over a deep red field. Curving drawing like this, woven from a plan, is the mark of a Persian city rug.

Turkish and Anatolian rugs lean bold and geometric. Instead of soft floral curves, you tend to see strong outlines, stepped medallions, hooked shapes, stars and simple stylized forms. Two types stand out. The prayer rug has a pointed arch, called the mihrab, at one end.^[6] The flat-woven kilim is usually built from geometric blocks of color.^[7]

Anatolian village rugs also carry small angular figures with Turkish names, such as the elibelinde and the ram’s horn. Our guide to rug motifs and what they mean covers these Turkish rug symbols one by one.

Seen from above, a red Tabriz rug with a curving floral medallion beside a pale Anatolian rug with stepped, hooked medallions on limed oak — A Tabriz, 7 feet 9 inches by 10 feet 8 inches, beside an Anatolian rug. The Persian medallion curves and scrolls, while the Anatolian one is built from steps and hooks.

Still, plenty of Persian rugs are proudly geometric too. Tribal and village weaving favors angular medallions and repeating motifs. Tribal rugs were made by nomadic groups from memory rather than from a drawn plan, and village weavers around Hamedan and Shiraz worked the same way. So a geometric design alone does not make a rug Turkish. It just tells you to keep checking.

Long whitewashed farmhouse gallery with a pine bench and an oak chest, a burgundy Gharajeh runner with stepped, hooked medallions on wide oak planks — A Gharajeh, 5 feet 1 inch by 13 feet, from the villages near Heriz in northwest Persia. Its medallions are all steps and hooks, yet it is a Persian village rug.

Color: useful, but the weakest clue

Color is the least reliable clue on its own, because dyes and dye habits traveled freely. Still, it adds useful context.

Persian city rugs often use deep, rich tones: indigo blue, madder red, soft ivory and strong accents, arranged in careful, balanced schemes. Many Persian rugs feel measured and formal in their color, and red is by far the most common field, the main background of the rug.

Older Turkish and Anatolian village rugs often favor warm, earthy colors such as terracotta, saffron, madder red, ochre and undyed wool. The vintage Turkish rugs we sell, mostly from Isparta and Manisa, are paler still. Expect cream fields with dusty rose and sage, softened by fifty years of daylight. Browse the Turkish rugs and Anatolian rugs and you will start to see these differences for yourself.

A quick checklist for telling them apart

When a rug is in front of you, work through these signs in order. No single one decides it. You are building a picture.

Check the knot on the back. Even, balanced knots point to Turkish or Anatolian weaving. Offset, one-sided knots point to Persian.
Read the lines. Flowing curves, vines and floral medallions suggest a Persian city rug. Strong angles, hooks and stepped forms suggest Turkish or tribal weaving.
Look for a prayer arch or a flat weave. A pointed mihrab, or a flat-woven geometric field, strongly suggests the Anatolian tradition.
Consider the color. Earthy terracotta and ochre, or a pale cream field with dusty rose, lean Turkish. Deep reds, indigo and formal ivory lean Persian.
Weigh it all together. Let the knot lead. Then let the design and color confirm or complicate the picture.

The back of a cream, tan and green rug laid face down on oak boards, its design showing through, a magnifying glass on top — This is the back of a rug laid face down. The design shows through knot by knot, so you can read the pattern and check the knots at the same time.

Where the line blurs

It would be tidy to say every Persian rug is floral and every Turkish rug is geometric, but it is not true. Weavers moved, and patterns crossed borders. The northwest of Persia in particular blends both worlds, with symmetric knots under curving designs.

It works the other way too. Isparta workshops in Turkey, weaving for buyers abroad, often drew curving floral medallions much like a Persian city rug.

Cream Isparta rug with a curving rose medallion on a dark oak floor in a brick loft with a linen sofa and cane chairs — A Turkish Isparta, 6 feet 4 inches by 10 feet 4 inches, with a curving rose medallion on a cream field. The drawing could pass for Persian, but the pale palette is typically Turkish.

So think of the two traditions as overlapping circles rather than separate boxes. The knot gives you the firmest ground, and the design and color add confidence. When a rug sits right on the border, that is not a failure of your eye. It often shows where and when the piece was made.

Whichever tradition a knotted rug belongs to, it was made by hand, one knot at a time, and it has lasted long enough to reach you. Every rug we list is professionally washed and restored first, and shipping is free and insured to the US and Canada.

Is a Persian rug better than a Turkish rug?

No, neither one is better because of where it was woven. A rug earns its quality from good wool, sound dyes, close knotting and the care it has had over the years.

What you will notice is the look and, in our shop, the price. Most of our Turkish rugs cost between about $250 and $600, and even the largest stay under $900. Our Persian rugs range more widely, from a few hundred dollars for a small piece to more than $3,500 for an oversized one. A room-size Persian usually costs more than a Turkish rug of the same size.

So choose by the room you have. A pale Turkish field with dusty rose suits a light, soft room, while a deep red Persian gives a room weight and warmth. Both kinds have already lasted about fifty years, and with sensible care either one can keep going for decades. Our rug care guide covers the basics.

Train your eye by comparing rugs side by side

The quickest way to learn is to look at many rugs next to each other. Spend some time with our Persian rugs and Turkish rugs, and compare the drawing and the color. When you have a rug in your hands, turn it over and check the knots.

To go one level closer, Heriz vs Tabriz compared sets two Persian classics side by side, and reading a rug: motifs and what they mean explains the shapes themselves.