When a rug measures more than twenty feet (width or length), it is considered oversized. There is definitely something magical in carpets of this kind, since their production often takes a very long time and involves plenty of weavers.
Oversized rugs are admired not only because of their overall beauty and artistry of designs, but also for the consistent attention to detail. In the majority of cases, antique oversized carpets were commissioned by more affluent members of the society, sometimes whole families. They needed custom-made carpets, with specific sizes to completely cover the floors of their houses. Various styles of antique oversized rugs can be distinguished, like Antique Persian Rugs or Indian, Turkish rugs etc. After such rug was created and sold, it usually remained in the hands of a particular family across generations. Thus now, these exclusive floor coverings are considered highly valuable, being sought after by collectors as well as enthusiasts of Antique Oriental rugs.
If you are looking for a large/oversized carpet, it is better to choose one of the already made rugs. Production of a new oversized carpet is extremely costly, since plenty of materials, time and people are needed to fulfil it. For this reason, we can find more antique oversized rugs available today than the contemporary ones. What is more, they would very often cost less than their contemporary equivalents. Since the wealthy customers used to commission quite a lot of oversized rugs for their vast mansions, the production of those exceptional floor coverings was more common in the past than it is nowadays.
Doris Leslie Blau’s collection includes various antique oversized rugs, e.g. Antique Indian, Turkish or Persian rugs, within which you can also find North Indian or Kirman rugs and many more. Some vintage rugs and contemporary oversized carpets are available as well. In the past, oversized rugs used to be placed on the mosques’ floors, covering them thoroughly. Currently, the 3 largest carpets in the world decorate mosques’ floors and the situation hasn’t changed. You’ll be astounded that a rug can be so gigantic. You’ll be even more amazed when you check the price of those masterpieces. The record-breaking rug is 133 meters long, 41 meters broad, and its total area is 60,468 square feet, which makes it larger than a football pitch. This particular rug brightens the floor of the central hall of the Sheikh Zayed mosque in the United Arab Emirates. Its production took 1,200 weavers a year and a half to complete. They used 38 tons of wool and cotton. Its number of knots is 2.2 billion! However, the most striking information concerns the price – although it’s not for sale. The rug is valued at over US $8 million.
It cannot be denied that – whether antique or contemporary – oversized and large rugs are of great value on account of their intricacy of designs and an overall effort put in their production.