Authentic Persian rugs are renowned for beauty and craftsmanship, but many machine-made replicas are also produced these days. As a result, for the uninformed, it can be tricky to tell if a Persian rug is real or an imitation.
While there are many ways to identify a rug’s authenticity, exploring its underside is an excellent place to begin.
It’s astonishing just how much the back of a rug can help you find out if you own a genuine Persian rug. For instance, the absence or presence of imperfections in the rug’s knots will tell you if it is machine-made or hand knotted. However, the type and texture of the rug backing is revealing.
A legitimate Persian rug is always knotted by hand. As a result, the pattern found on the underside of the rug will match the pattern on the rug’s topside, but because it is woven by hand, imperfections are likely to be present. A machine-made rug will have no such errors.
Additionally, no other backing is fitted to the underside of a Persian rug. This absence of backing gives Persian rugs a soft underside.
Some machine- or gun-tufted rugs will have a laminate backing that looks ugly, so a separate piece of material will be attached to the backing to cover this. This is not done on a true Persian rug or Oriental rug, so if you see material stuck to the back, you know you have an imitation or gun-tufted rug. Some of these rugs can still be very nice, so you should not become disheartened if you have one. There are many new designer rugs that are gun-tufted by hand into a laminate backing. They are not the same level of art work that true hand-woven Persian are, but can nonetheless be very beautiful.
If you need a Persian rug cleaning in Ipswich or the wider Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex area, we are ready to help. Reach out to our team at the Rug Cleaning Studio for an expert service.
