Berber Wool Pile Carpet

A field of red, with somebody's handwriting all over it.

This pile carpet is Berber, from the Haouz district of Morocco in North Africa, and dates to the mid 20th century. It is wool. Berber women in Morocco traditionally wove carpets like this for their own households, as bedding and floor covers against the cold, with patterns kept personal and irregular. A checkered band in pale yellow crosses the top. Below it, diamonds, zigzags and stray lines scatter across the deep shaggy pile, and long fringe trails at the end. A seam runs down the middle. Ten feet long and just over seven wide.

No two lines agree, and the rug seems pleased about it.