Rugs: eastern heritage

The words "Oriental rugs" can conjure up visions of one of the most beautiful of man's achievements, with the glow of their colouring, the fascinating and intricate patterns used, and, in pile rugs, the sheen that seems to compel the fingers to stroke the surface in order to feel its texture.

Among all the marvels poured into the West by the long, winding caravans, none were more wonderful than the "carpets dark as wine".

The magic of the East seems to lie in the very names of those carpets—Shiraz, Isphahan, Shirvan, Bokhara, Soumak, Samarkand—they are as colourful as the rugs themselves and surely it must be true that the merchants did not "travel for trafficking alone" but in part appreciated the beauty of what they carried?