In a yard sale - I found a huge rug that I'm almost certain is an old Kerman.

Size is at least about 3 x 5 (meters) . KPSI would be 200-250 range. It's really thin - although the designs aren't super ornate.

Major colors are red and blue. There's no "pure white" - and the blue a dark blue with abrash. Lots of vases with medium clarity.

This rug has two issues:

a) Pile with red dye is consistently worn ---- the color is still there - but most of the pile is gone. There's no holes or tears - but pile is very depressed in spots. (cochineal?)

b) The rug has about a quart of white-wash paint spilled on a corner --- covering approx 3 square feet of the rug. The paint seems to be water-based --- scrapes off with some work - seems to be sitting on the surface of the rug - and hasn't really sunk into the pile. I'm almost certain that it's water-based white-wash.

I picked the carpet up for $75. Trying to figure out what to do with it, next.

Any thoughts?

(as I said - photos over the weekend).

What years were cochineal dyes common? Any other reason why the red (and only the red) would be depressed?

Image ----

http://img63.imageshack....mg63/5126/image083x.jpg

Size: approx 9 x 15 --- it's very large
Wool pile - reds heavily corroded - but still nice enough to enjoy.
Edges - very worn - most of the over-cast is gone. However - I can now see the cotton weft - which is white with grey shoots.
Warp - Fairly sure it's cotton - but very yellow looking.
Knots are asymetric -

It´s an old Sarugh. Would make me wonder there is any Cochineal in the carpet. Maybe in relation to the Indigo the red seems to be more worn. Indigo dyed wool is more stable than madder f.e.

It looks 1920s or later to me, perhaps 1940s. (But I'm not an expert.) It looks like a painted Sarouk (or American Sarouk), or something made to look like an American Sarouk. Is the red on the back different from the red on the front?

If it was 19th century, it would probably be worth restoring.

As it is, I would probably try getting the whitewash off by hand (perhaps literally shave it off), sometimes things like that work. Overcasting the selvages or securing the ends should not be expensive.

Painted Sarouk, then.
Perhaps the dye they used for painting corroded it? Just an (uninformed) guess.

Shereen - thanks for your sharp eyes ---- you nailed it.

Funny thing is - I often guess the age a carpet by comparing the brightness of the front vs. the back of the carpet.

I feel kind of dumb not noticing that the color was moving in the wrong direction!

The color on this carpet is really great - and it endures a citrus-based paint stripper just fine (small experimental section).

I'm taking it to a pro, though - for the rest of the work.

We'll strip the paint, wash the carpet, and restore the sides.

Not messing with the top and bottom - and won't be trying to strip it.

I suspect the paint used to paint this carpet had acidic chemistry. Just hoping it doesn't get worse. The carpet looks great right now.