“Sultanabad” is one of those magical oriental rug types, something to conjure with. There are real Sultanabad's, of which this is one, those moderately coarse carpets woven in the Sultanabad/Arak (Markazai) area/province before the First World War, and there are plenty of Mahal wannabees, rugs from the same area but lacking the expansive design and mellow palettes of the originals. Many, perhaps most, were woven under the aegis and at the order of the famous British firm of Ziegler. Originally these carpets were created for the middle class, but today designers cannot get enough of them and the market has moved upscale. Cotton foundations are standard, along with asymmetric (oriental) knots.