Tiny Kirman rug. Interesting to note the empty signature cartouche at the top of the rug. Very expressive cherubs for such a small rug.

An online seller and I were talking about some of these inscriptions a while back. He e-mailed this to me from the main site for giggles.

"A well known importer once told a story of his trip overseas where the designer of a rug had integrated signature panels of which he had not decided on the content. Too large for his signature, and too small for poetry, the designer decided to weave in Farsi the words "Buy Me". An unusual case, however the Western Market is oblivious."

My guess is that they probably didn't remove writing from this rug. I think they border of the carpet was copied from another rug, which they decided the "cartouche" or panel inscription probably had no relevant meaning to the Virgin Mary as woven in the field of this rug, but kept it there anyway to avoid a disjointed mesh toward the corner of the rug.