Berber Wool Pile Carpet

Red and teal marks march down a white field, then lose formation near the end.

This pile carpet is knotted wool, made by Berber people in the Azilal district of the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, in the 20th century. Berber women in these mountains wove thick pile carpets for their own homes, as bedding and floor cover against the cold, and each weaver had considerable freedom over the design. Long columns of small red, green and black shapes run over shaggy cream wool. Toward one end the columns scatter into something looser, above a fringe. It runs over nine feet long.

The weaver knew the rules, evidently, and then stopped needing them.