Editing Islamic art (section)

== Rugs and carpets ==
{{Main|Oriental rugs}}
{{see also|Turkish carpet|Persian carpet|Kilim}}
[[File:Farsh1.jpg|thumb|left|From the yarn fiber to the colors, every part of the [[Persian rug]] is traditionally handmade from natural ingredients over the course of many months]]

No Islamic artistic product has become better known outside the Islamic world than the pile carpet, more commonly referred to as the ''Oriental carpet'' ([[oriental rug]]). Their versatility is utilized in everyday Islamic and Muslim life, from floor coverings to architectural enrichment, from cushions to bolsters to bags and sacks of all shapes and sizes, and to religious objects (such as a [[prayer rug]], which would provide a clean place to pray). They have been a major export to other areas since the late Middle Ages, used to cover not only floors but tables, for long a widespread European practice that is now common only in the [[Netherlands]]. Carpet weaving is a rich and deeply embedded tradition in Islamic societies, and the practice is seen in large city factories as well as in rural communities and nomadic encampments. In earlier periods, special establishments and workshops were in existence that functioned directly under court patronage.<ref>Davies, Penelope J.E. Denny, Walter B. Hofrichter, Frima Fox. Jacobs, Joseph. Roberts, Ann M. Simon, ''David L. Janson's History of Art'', Prentice Hall; 2007, Upper Saddle, New Jersey. Seventh Edition, {{ISBN|0-13-193455-4}} pg. 298</ref>

[[File:Antique oushak 418424.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Turkish carpet|Turkish]] [[Ushak carpet]]]]
Very early Islamic carpets, i.e. those before the 16th century, are extremely rare. More have survived in the West and [[oriental carpets in Renaissance painting]] from Europe are a major source of information on them, as they were valuable imports that were painted accurately.<ref>King and Sylvester, throughout, but 9–28, 49–50, & 59 in particular</ref> The most natural and easy designs for a carpet weaver to produce consist of straight lines and edges, and the earliest Islamic carpets to survive or be shown in paintings have geometric designs, or centre on very stylized animals, made up in this way. Since the flowing loops and curves of the arabesque are central to Islamic art, the interaction and tension between these two styles was long a major feature of carpet design.

There are a few survivals of the grand Egyptian 16th century carpets, including one almost as good as new discovered in the attic of the [[Pitti Palace]] in Florence, whose complex patterns of octagon roundels and stars, in just a few colours, shimmer before the viewer.<ref>King and Sylvester, 27, 61–62, as "The Medici Mamluk Carpet"</ref> Production of this style of carpet began under the [[Mamluks]] but continued after the Ottomans conquered Egypt.<ref>King and Sylvester, 59–66, 79–83</ref> The other sophisticated tradition was the [[Persian carpet]] which reached its peak in the 16th and early 17th century in works like the [[Ardabil Carpet]] and [[Coronation Carpet]]; during this century the Ottoman and Mughal courts also began to sponsor the making in their domains of large formal carpets, evidently with the involvement of designers used to the latest court style in the general Persian tradition. These use a design style shared with non-figurative Islamic illumination and other media, often with a large central ''[[Gul (design)|gul]]'' motif, and always with wide and strongly demarcated borders. The grand designs of the workshops patronized by the court spread out to smaller carpets for the merely wealthy and for export, and designs close to those of the 16th and 17th centuries are still produced in large numbers today.  The description of older carpets has tended to use the names of carpet-making centres as labels, but often derived from the design rather than any actual evidence that they originated from around that centre. Research has clarified that designs were by no means always restricted to the centre they are traditionally associated with, and the origin of many carpets remains unclear.

As well as the major Persian, Turkish and Arab centres, carpets were also made across Central Asia, in India, and in Spain and the Balkans. Spanish carpets, which sometimes interrupted typical Islamic patterns to include [[coats of arms]], enjoyed high prestige in Europe, being commissioned by royalty and for the [[Papal Palace, Avignon]], and the industry continued after the [[Reconquista]].<ref>King and Sylvester: Spanish carpets: 11–12, 50–52; Balkans: 77 and ''passim''</ref> [[Armenian carpet]]-weaving is mentioned by many early sources, and may account for a much larger proportion of East Turkish and Caucasian production than traditionally thought. The [[Berber carpet]]s of North Africa have a distinct design tradition. Apart from the products of city workshops, in touch with trading networks that might carry the carpets to markets far away, there was also a large and widespread village and nomadic industry producing work that stayed closer to traditional local designs. As well as pile carpets, [[kelim]]s and other types of flat-weave or [[embroidered]] textiles were produced, for use on both floors and walls. Figurative designs, sometimes with large human figures, are very popular in Islamic countries but relatively rarely exported to the West, where abstract designs are generally what the market expects.