What is a Sivas rug? Turkish Sivas carpets, explained

A Sivas is the Turkish rug for people who want the detail of a Persian carpet. It is hand-knotted in wool in the city of Sivas and the towns around it, on the high plateau of central Turkey, and it is among the most finely knotted wool rugs Turkey has produced. More knots to the inch means smaller, crisper flowers and leaves, and Sivas weavers used that precision to copy the Persian city carpets of Tabriz and Kashan: a center medallion with matching corners, or vines and blossoms repeated across the whole rug. Nearly all of the Sivas Rugs we have in stock have also faded to soft ivory, taupe and rose, so all that detail sits quietly in a room.

The quickest way to place a Sivas is next to its neighbors. An Oushak, the best-known Turkish rug, uses big, widely spaced motifs and a thicker pile, so its pattern reads from across the room; compare it in Oushak Rugs. A Tabriz is a Persian city carpet with crisp, closely packed detail, as in Tabriz Rugs. A Sivas sits between the two: its flowers and leaves are as small and exact as a Tabriz's, and its colors are as soft as an Oushak's.

How to recognize a Sivas

Look first at the field, the open center inside the borders. On a Sivas the motifs are small and closely packed, curling vines, leaves and palmettes (a fan-shaped flower seen from the side), and the left half of the rug mirrors the right. The borders come in layers, a wide main border with narrow stripes on either side, which gives the rug a formal, finished edge. This Vintage Sivas Area Rug (4' x 6') shows the whole Persian layout at a small size: a rust and brown medallion on an ivory field, framed by a dark navy border.

How the field is laid out splits Sivas rugs three ways, and it is the most useful way to sort them. Most of ours are floral, many with vines and blossoms running edge to edge and no single center, which makes them easy to place because no furniture has to line up with a medallion. A second group centers one medallion, the classic Persian city layout. A smaller group drops the curves for stepped diamonds and hooked shapes, closer to the village rugs of the Turkish countryside, and that group includes more than half of our Sivas runners.

Floral Sivas Rugs Vines and blossoms running edge to edge. Shop Medallion Sivas Rugs One center medallion, the Persian city layout. Shop Geometric Sivas Rugs Stepped diamonds in place of curves. Shop

Antique or vintage

Both come from the same region and the same designs, so this is a choice about surface and size rather than quality. An antique Sivas, meaning a rug eighty years and older, has usually worn its pile lower, which brings every small flower and leaf right up to the surface. A vintage Sivas keeps more wool standing and feels fuller underfoot. Size decides it as often as surface does: eight of our ten Sivas runners and most of our small Sivas are antique, while the room sizes split close to evenly.

Antique Sivas Rugs Pile worn lower, every flower right at the surface. Shop Vintage Sivas Rugs More wool standing, fuller underfoot. Shop

Sizes, colors and rooms

Sivas rugs come in every size, and our stock runs from a 2' x 4' rug to a 12' x 19' carpet. For a living room or a dining room, start with the large sizes: 8' x 10', 9' x 12' and 10' x 13', the sizes that hold a full seating group or a dining table with its chairs. For a hall, this Antique Sivas Runner Rug (4' x 12') is wide enough for a broad entry corridor. Small rugs show the fine detail best, because you see them up close inside a front door, beside a bed or in front of a vanity, and Small Sivas Rugs collects the 2' x 4' to 4' x 6' pieces.

Color narrows the choice quickly, because the Sivas palette is so consistent. Close to half of ours have an ivory field, and more than nine in ten have faded, their reds and blues washed back toward rose, sand and powder blue. That makes a large Sivas one of the easiest room-size rugs to put under modern furniture: the detail is there when you look down, and from across the room it reads as soft color rather than busy pattern.

Large Sivas Rugs Room-size rugs that sit easily under modern furniture. Shop Ivory Sivas Rugs An ivory field under all that fine detail. Shop Faded Sivas Rugs Reds and blues washed back to rose and powder blue. Shop

Placement follows the usual rules. In a living room, the front legs of the sofa and chairs should rest on the rug. Under a dining table, leave about two feet of rug past the table edge on every side, so the chairs stay on it when someone pulls one out. Care is simple: put a pad under the rug on hard floors, vacuum without the beater bar, rotate it a couple of times a year so sun and traffic wear it evenly, and send spills to a professional cleaner.

If you are shopping the type rather than one particular rug, pick the size first and the color second. This Vintage Sivas Area Rug (9' x 12') is the all-over floral version at room size, a taupe field inside a wide ivory border with touches of pale blue. This Antique Sivas Area Rug (9' x 11') is the older, warmer version, faded taupe and camel with hints of rose. Most of what we have sits somewhere between those two.