Concerns & considerations: descriptive and non-descriptive labels
Labels can be of substantial importance to helping identify information about a rug or its manufacturer. The presence of a label can add substantial value to a rug, particularly in the eyes of a collector or connoisseur. As with many of the factors addressed by the concerns and considerations portion of this site, some labels have no benefit at all.
Note: some rugs have important labels, some have unimportant lables, others have no labels.
Examples
The label shown on the right displays what is referred to as a "generic label". This particular label shows the traditional Whittall Mills three arch motifs (each arch containing a vinette from different areas of the "rug world").
The text provided is general non-specific promotional verbage with little relation to anything other than promoting the mill and the quality of their product.
The two labels shown on the right feature specific pattern names with lengthy text descriptions detailing the origin of the pattern or important information relating to the pattern featured in the rug.
This label is referred to as a "descriptive label".
Collectors are often more favourable to a descriptive label, however, some patterns and some colour palettes were not available during the period in which some mills used the descriptive labels.
Over the many different eras, manufactures changed their labels, size of the label, style, and the information contained.
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