Is it a real Persian rug? How to read the label, the back and the name on the tag, and what it changes when the rug is washed

A lot of rugs in New York-area homes get called Persian. Some came from Iran. Some were hand-knotted in India, Pakistan, Turkey or China in a Persian design. And a good number were made on a power loom out of polypropylene or viscose and sold as “Persian-style.” All three can look alike from across the room. They don't behave alike when they're washed, and it helps to know which one is on your floor before you book. You can sort most rugs out in about ten minutes with the label, the back and a damp white cloth.

What “Persian” and “oriental” actually mean

• Persian means made in Iran. It's a statement about where the rug comes from, not about its pattern.
• Oriental is broader. It usually means a hand-knotted rug from the old rug-weaving belt that runs from Turkey and the Caucasus through Iran and Central Asia to India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet and China. Every Persian rug is oriental. Most oriental rugs aren't Persian.
• Persian-style, oriental design, traditional and similar phrases describe the look only. On a listing or a big-box store tag, they usually mean a machine-made rug.

None of these words tells you on its own whether the rug is valuable or fragile. A machine-made polypropylene rug can be sturdy, and a worn old Persian can need careful handling. What you're really trying to find out is how it was made and what it's made of.

Start with the label

Most rugs sold new in the US carry a sewn-in label on the back, usually near a corner, listing the fiber and the country of origin. Turn over each corner and look for it. Things worth knowing when you find one:

• “100% polypropylene,” “olefin,” “polyester” or “PET” means a synthetic rug, almost always machine-made, whatever the design looks like.
• “Viscose,” “rayon,” “art silk” or “bamboo silk” all mean viscose, a fiber made from wood pulp. It's common in shiny Persian-design rugs and it's the trickiest one to wash (more below).
• “Made in Turkey,” “Egypt” or “Belgium” next to a synthetic fiber is the classic power-loomed Persian-style rug. Turkey also makes real hand-knotted rugs, so the country alone doesn't settle it. The fiber line does.
• “Made in Iran” with wool or silk is a strong sign of a real Persian, but check the back anyway. Labels get sewn onto the wrong things now and then.
• No label at all is normal on older hand-knotted rugs, which were often sold without one or had it cut off. On a newer-looking rug, a missing label just means you have to rely on the next checks.

Don't trust the name on the tag

Heriz, Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan, Sarouk, Mahal and Bokhara are real places or weaving traditions, and on an old Persian the name tells you where the rug, or its design, comes from. On a modern tag, they're often just the name of the pattern. A polypropylene rug from Egypt can be sold as a “Kashan.” Hand-knotted rugs from India and Pakistan also borrow the names, sometimes as “Indo-Heriz” or “Pakistani Bokhara,” which is at least honest about where the rug was made. Treat the name as a description of the design until the back of the rug agrees with it.

The same goes for the knot. You'll read that Persian rugs use a “Persian knot.” Plenty of rugs woven in Iran, Heriz among them, use the other common knot, called the Turkish or symmetric knot, and rugs from India and Pakistan use the Persian knot all the time. Knot type is something dealers look at, but it won't tell a homeowner where a rug was made.

Read the back and the fringe

The back is the most reliable thing you can check yourself. Our handmade rug guide walks through it in detail, but the short version is:

• A plain canvas or cloth back means the rug is tufted or hooked, not knotted. Lots of wool rugs with Persian designs are made this way. It's a handmade rug, but it isn't a Persian rug in the sense dealers mean.
• The design showing clearly on the back, slightly uneven, with rows that wander a little points to hand-knotting.
• The design on the back but perfectly regular, with a stiff, grid-like feel is a machine-made rug.
• Fringe that runs straight out of the body of the rug is the warp, the threads the rug was built on, and is what you'd expect on a hand-knotted rug. Fringe on a strip that's sewn or glued across the end is added on, which is typical of machine-made and tufted rugs.

Feel the fiber

If there's no label, your hands can usually tell wool from the two most common substitutes. Wool feels springy and a little dry, with a faintly greasy feel on newer rugs from the lanolin, and the pile bounces back after you press it. Polypropylene feels slick, a bit waxy, and often stiffer. Viscose feels cool and very smooth, has a strong sheen that changes as you walk around it, and shows flattened tracks wherever furniture or feet have pressed on it. Real silk is also shiny, but it's rare on a rug that cost a few hundred dollars. Our synthetic fiber guide covers the differences in more depth.

Skip the burn test you'll find recommended online. It means pulling and burning fibers from your rug, the results are easy to misread, and there's no reason to damage a rug to find out what it is.

Two things to check on an older rug

• Color that runs. Dampen a white cloth with cool water and press it on each color for about a minute, especially deep reds and navy. If color comes off on the cloth, note it.
• Painted worn spots. Older Persian and oriental rugs that have worn down in the walkway are sometimes touched up with marker or dye so the bare foundation doesn't show. Look closely at the worn areas. If the color seems to sit on the threads rather than in the wool, or the dark outlines look too crisp for how worn the rest of the rug is, it has probably been painted. That color can move when the rug gets wet, so it's worth mentioning.

Also note any fringe that's pulling loose or ends that are losing knots. The fringe and edge guide explains when that needs a repair first.

What each type means for washing

The point isn't that only real Persians deserve a proper wash. It's that each type has its own weak spot, and the rug's construction tells you what that is. If you want more detail on how handmade wool rugs from Iran and the rest of the rug belt are handled, see our page on Persian and oriental rug cleaning. For care between washes, the home care guide for oriental rugs covers vacuuming and spot cleaning.

Inherited rugs and estate-sale finds

Many of the oriental rugs around NYC, Long Island, Westchester, North Jersey and southwest Connecticut were never bought new. They came out of a parent's house, a prewar apartment that was being cleared, or an estate sale. Family stories about these rugs are often half right. “Grandma's Persian” can turn out to be a good Indian or Turkish rug, or a machine-made one from the 1980s. The checks above will tell you what you have. They won't tell you what it's worth. For value, insurance or a sale, you need a qualified rug appraiser, not a cleaner.

One practical point for rugs that have been rolled up in a basement or garage: unroll them in a ventilated room and check the back for a musty smell, stiff patches or bare tracks in the pile before they go back on the floor. Moths and dampness do more damage to stored wool rugs than foot traffic does. The moth damage guide shows what to look for.

What it costs, and how booking works

The price is based on the rug's measurements. Measure width and length in feet without the fringe (the measuring guide shows how to handle inches). Pickup and return are free when the cleaning subtotal is $250 or more, and $50 total below that.

If the rug is under a dining table or a bed, the optional furniture service is $50 flat: the furniture is moved, the rug is taken, and it's put back in place when it's returned.

Enter your measurements on easyrugwash.com or in the rug cleaning price calculator to see your total and pick a date. Pickup is usually within 48 hours of booking, or later if you choose, and rugs come back 7–10 business days after pickup. Anything you found while checking, like running color, painted spots, viscose or loose ends, goes in the order notes so it travels with the rug.