Pictorial Pictorial rugs portray people and/or animals and are usually based on history and mythology. The naturalistic and realistic depiction of people and animals is not very common in the East; therefore, pictorial rugs are a special and less common pattern. Sometimes they consist of one or more figures (usually famous), and sometimes they depict a famous historical event. Even though a few nomadic groups such as the Baluchi occasionally produce items with pictorial pattern, pictorial rugs are mainly produced in workshops and woven from fine cartoons. Workshops of Iran (particularly Kerman, Tabriz, and Kashan), India, and Pakistan to some extend, are the major producers of pictorial rugs. Since the beginning of the 19th century many pictorial rugs have also been woven in China. Turkey, Afghanistan, and the Caucasus are not in the tradition of making pictorial rugs. Pictorial rugs should not be mistaken with all-over hunting scenes. In pictorial rugs people and animals are the main design. In all-over hunting scenes, they are the supplementary decorative motifs. Return to Top