Location: Milas is situated on the shores of the Aegean Sea in the south-west of Turkey.

General Description: Like other centres of rug-making in Turkey, Milas made both prayer rugs and conventional rugs. The latter are not easily identified but on close examination have characteristic features which act as useful clues. The first is that the colours are quite bright and include yellow, white, violet, red and a bright blue. The second clue is that the designs, though common to rugs of other Turkish centres have been highly stylised. Examination of the back of the rug will often help, for it may show a fairly regular pattern of lines and knots, with the weft doubled after every two rows of knots.

Prayer rugs are much easier to recognise for the mihrab or niche is fairly distinctive. It is small in relation to the total area of carpet and the top has two triangular indentations, one on each side, which gives it an almost diamond-shaped head. In the centre of the mihrab is sometimes a diamond shape, from which branch either eight-pointed stars in octagons or stylised flower shapes. The diamond may be connected to the base of the mihrab by what appears to be a stem of a plant, with small leaves branching off either side.

The border too can be quite distinctive. The wide central band which may consist of serrated diamond motifs separated by stylised flowers, will be flanked on the outside by diagonal bands of differing colours, which in turn are flanked by a wider band of pale colour decorated with rosettes or similar motifs. The colours used for borders tend to be yellow, white, green, and a red (the same as that used for the mihrab). White is normally the ground colour with the mihrab being red, or a dull red-orange.

Specification: Loom - Vertical. Warp - Wool. Weft - Wool, double between rows (occasionally both warp and weft are cotton). Pile - Wool, medium length. Knot - Turkish, density between 60 and 120 knots per square inch.