Oriental Rug Design Components

An Oriental rug design is comprised of several components, so let’s first define those:

Borders: There are usually two borders on a Persian rug — the main border is the widest section of design around the outside of the rug, while the guard border is usually narrow and lies inside the main border.

Field: The field is the colorful background inside the borders.

Medallion: Often, rugs feature a medallion in the center of the field. This is a large shape — round, oval or polygonal — that sits prominently in the middle of the rug.

Corner brackets, quarter panels or spandrels: These are designs that fill the corners of the field.

Typically, rugs will consist of all-over patterns, known as motifs, or they will contain a central medallion around which the rest of the rug is designed.