Smyrna

"(called by its Greek name Smyrna until 1922). Third largest city in Turkey and an important trading centre and port. A group of seventeenth century rugs and carpets, known as 'Smyrna', fall into the 'Transylvanian cluster' and were probably made in the Ushak region, their designs seeming to be a provincial rendering of the Cairene Ottoman floral 'court' style. From the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries, Smyrna was the main port for exporting large commercially made pieces known in Europe as 'Turkey' carpets and in the United States as 'Ushaks' (not to be confused with sixteenth to seventeenth century carpets woven in that region). These were coarsely knotted on cotton foundations, often in shades of red and blue. One author, Kuhlbrandt , writing in 1911, referred to 'very large and loosely knotted carpets which are termed modern Smyrna carpets'. Such pieces are experiencing something of a revival amongst interior decorators today. " - from Oriental Rugs Volume 4 - Turkish by K.Zipper & C.Fritzsche