Vintage Art Nouveau Handmade Wool Rug BB2785 12'0" × 17'0" $68,000

An early 20th century Art Nouveau vintage carpet, the solid oatmeal field with yellow geometric cartouches at the upper and lower ends above light blue half-moon shapes containing floral motifs within a blue abstract floral motif and an oatmeal cartouche border.

Decorative antique area rugs for the western market were originally made in countries such as India, Persia and Turkey. As the industrial revolution created a new merchant class, antique European Art Nouveau rugs were a sought-after status symbol demonstrating wealth and good taste. Watch any period film set in the late 19th or early 20th centuries and you will almost certainly see an oriental rug on the floor.