Template:POTD/2023-04-11
An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and originating from a region known as the Rug Belt, which stretches from Morocco across North Africa, the Middle East, and into Central Asia and northern India. The rugs can be pile-woven or flat-woven without pile, using various materials such as silk, wool, cotton, jute and animal hair. The origin of the oriental rug is unknown, although it is likely to have developed from earlier floor coverings made of felt. This French poster, titled "A La Place Clichy" and produced around 1891 to advertise oriental rugs, features a lithograph by the Swiss artist Eugène Grasset.Illustration credit: Eugène Grasset; restored by Adam Cuerden