Bird Rug

bird rug, floor covering woven in western Turkey, carrying on an ivory ground a repeating pattern in which leaflike figures, erroneously described as birds, cluster around stylized flowers. The rugs first appear in Western paintings in the 16th century and were probably not woven after the 18th century. Although the rugs initially were thought to have been woven in Uşak, evidence has emerged that the nearby town of Selindi is the probable source of this design and of other ivory field carpets in the chintamani design, with a repeat of three small balls above two wavelike stripes.

Several forgeries in this design are known. These are distinguishable from the originals by their lack of “lazy lines” (diagonal lines on the back of the carpet generated by the weaving technique), a feature common on the Selindi carpets.