Oriental carpets possess some of the most historic and inventive designs ever created. The plates in this book have been selected from one of the most outstanding and highly regarded books in the field, OLD ORIENTAL CARPETS (1926 and 1929). This sumptuous set of plates from European and American public and private collec-tions represents the pinnacles of carpet-making achievement from Persia, India, Turkey and the Caucasus.

ORIENTAL CARPET DESIGNS contains 47 full-color plates from these rare volumes. There are dozens of design motifs in muted and bold colors-geometrics, florals, plants, prayer rugs, animal combat scenes, cartouches, palmettes, blossoms, pheasants, peacocks, vase and candelabra motifs, hunting scenes, arabesques, "garden" carpets and many others. Captions and notes to the plates provide a brief description description of of the the carpet, the size and year year it was made, country and ownership. The illustrations range from the 15th to the 17th century.