Beni Ourain Wool Pile Carpet

White wool, black lines, and a good many symbols nobody is obliged to explain.

This pile carpet is Beni Ourain, from the Middle Atlas of Morocco in North Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is knotted wool. Beni Ourain women wove thick, creamy rugs like this for their own families, as bedding and warmth in the cold Atlas winters, drawing on them in sparse dark lines. Here a loose lattice runs down from the top and splits into two long diagonals. Below it float a six-pointed star, crosses, arrows and triangles, with shaggy dark edges along the sides. Ten feet long and just over six wide.

Modern designers took note of this sort of thing. The weavers got there first.