I think from Mr. Jesch's description, my rug looks like it is machine made... all those knots look really similar to me. Plus there is that nagging thought (although incorrect) that no one on the planet could have the patience to make a rug that is roughly 15 ft by 10 ft.
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Hard to tell just from this small photo, but this one could be hand woven...a few irregularities are evident. Look three rows down from the top, just left of centre..two or three knots are not regular. And, second and third row from bottom, just left of centre, the warp is not completely straight, but is corrected in the rows above it. Third row up from bottom, four threads from left end...an errant colour. Whoever did this one, if it is handwork, is very good....overall, very uniform. But, just enough "defects" it could well be hand work. Now, as too the large size of the blue and white one...yes, it does take great patience. But, I think not more than some geek spending their days in a Dilbert cubicle pecking out computer code on a keyboard all day. a rug 3 x 5 metres will take a skilled and fast worker probably six months to complete...and here in the states, a good quality hand worked rug, using top grade sheared wool, vegetable dyed, in that size range, could sell for upwards of ten thousand US dollars...and, given certain qualities, could fetch three times that in the right circumstances. I had a friend of mine, in Pakistan on mission work, find a smallish rug for me..he bought it directly from the family who made it, it measures about 2 x 3 metres, is a "tribal" rug, with typical repeating design elements, good wool (not "shabby"--from dead animals) vegetable dyed....he made good money on it and still sold it to me for $700. I believe that rug, had I bought it in a shop, would have set me back well over two thousand, perhaps three or even more. Which all tells me the handmade rugs on offer here in the states pay to the makers well under ten percent of the final selling price. Someone who knows these rugs can go over there, shop well, buy several, ship them back, and turn a very handsome profit and still pay to the makers several times anything they could hope to get in their local market. I've friends who are trying to set up "fair trade" import businesses, buying directly from the families that make them who are believers (and, in the main, suffer great prejudice and abuse in their local marketplace), paying them many times what even a non-believer could get locally...and still selling them here in the states well under market prices. In fact, the one my friend brought back is from a coop of Afghani believers who have fled to Pakistan..where they still endure much hardship on account of their faith, but far less than in their homeland. They are all traditional afghani weavers, and continue on in their traditional styles. Very interesting, the full story of these handworked rugs....
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