Art Deco Orange, Beige and Brown Hand Knotted Wool Rug BB3972 8'2" × 11'9" $50,000

An early 20th-century French Art Deco area rug, the field with blurred vertical bands in caramel, gray, saffron, and brown beneath a beige grid pattern overall.

Decorative antique carpets for the western market were originally made in countries such as India, Persia and Turkey.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 Deco 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 vintage area rug on the floor.

Art Deco is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. The Art Deco movement led to a fast evolution of rug and textile design, among other art forms. Rug design evolved from traditional floral and highly ornamental to a style of angular elegance with geometric, abstract and modern figurative motifs. The design is frequently spare, geometric, and architectural. The rugs created during this period remain elegant and refined to this day.