<P> In the beginning of the 19th century plant dyes were replaced by aniline colourings . "The best product of the country is the Pirot carpet, worth about ten shillings a square metre . The designs are extremely pretty, and the rugs, without being so heavy as the Persian, or so ragged and scant in the web and woof as Caramanian, wear for ever . The manufacture of these is almost entirely confined to Pirot . From Pirots old Turkish signification as Şarköy stems the traditional trade name of the rugs as Şarköy - kilims . Stemming from the homonym to the today's Turkish settlement of Şarköy in Thracia, which had no established rug making tradition, Şarköys are often falsely ascribed to originate from Turkey . Also in the rug selling industry, Şarköy are mostly labeled as being of oriental or Turkish origin as to easier sell them to non familiar customers as they prefer rug with putative oriental origin . In fact, Şarköys have been established from the 17th century in the region of the Western Balkan or Stara Planina mountains in the towns of Pirot, Berkowiza, Lom, Chiprovtsi and Samokow . Later they have been also produced in Knjaževac and Caribrod . </P> <P> The Chiprovtsi carpet (Чипровци килим) is a type of handmade carpet with two absolutely identical sides, part of Bulgarian national heritage, traditions, arts and crafts . Its name is derived from the town of Chiprovtsi where their production started in the 17th century . The carpet weaving industry played a key role in the revival of Chiprovtsi in the 1720s after the devastation of the failed 1688 Chiprovtsi Uprising against Ottoman rule . The western traveller Ami Boué, who visited Chiprovtsi in 1836--1838, reported that "mainly young girls, under shelters or in corridors, engage in carpet weaving . They earn only five francs a month and the payment was even lower before". By 1868, the annual production of carpets in Chiprovtsi had surpassed 14,000 square metres . In 1896, almost 1,400 women from Chiprovtsi and the region were engaged in carpet weaving . In 1920, the locals founded the Manual Labour carpet - weaving cooperative society, the first of its kind in the country . At present . the carpet (kilim) industry remains dominant in the town . Carpets have been crafted according to traditional designs, but in recent years it is up to the customers to decide the pattern of the carpet they have ordered . The production of a single 3 by 4 m (9.8 by 13.1 ft) carpet takes about 50 days; primarily women engage in carpet weaving . Work is entirely manual and all used materials are natural; the primary material is wool, coloured using plant or mineral dyes . The local carpets have been prized at exhibitions in London, Paris, Liège and Brussels . In recent decades, however, the Chiprovtsi carpet industry has been in decline as it had lost its firm foreign markets . As a result, the town and the municipality have been experiencing a demographic crisis . </P> <P> In 1608 Henry IV initiated the French production of "Turkish style" carpets under the direction of Pierre DuPont . This production was soon moved to the Savonnerie factory in Chaillot just west of Paris . The earliest, well - known group produced by the Savonnerie, then under the direction of Simon Lourdet, are the carpets that were produced in the early years of Louis XIV's reign . They are densely ornamented with flowers, sometimes in vases or baskets, against dark blue or brown grounds in deep borders . The designs are based on Netherlandish and Flemish textiles and paintings . The most famous Savonnerie carpets are the series made for the Grande Galerie and the Galerie d'Apollon in the Palais du Louvre between c. 1665 - 1685 . These 105 masterpieces, made under the artistic direction of Charles Le Brun, were never installed, as Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles in 1688 . Their design combines rich acanthus leaves, architectural framing, and mythological scenes (inspired by Cesare Ripa's Iconologie) with emblems of Louis XIV's royal power . </P> <P> Pierre - Josse Perrot is the best - known of the mid-eighteenth - century carpet designers . His many surviving works and drawings display graceful rococo s - scrolls, central rosettes, shells, acanthus leaves, and floral swags . The Savonnerie manufactory was moved to the Gobelins in Paris in 1826 . The Beauvais manufactory, better known for their tapestry, also made knotted pile carpets from 1780 to 1792 . Carpet production in small, privately owned workshops in the town of Aubusson began in 1743 . Carpets produced in France employ the symmetrical knot . </P>

When was wall to wall carpet first used