Named after the Portuguese town that has been a rug making centre since the 17thC, producing carpets that are worked in cross – stitch using thick wool and sometimes silk into linen, jute or hemp canvases.
Early designs were traditionally worked in red, blue and yellow natural vegetal dyes and show Persian and Oriental influences in their choice of colours, use of symmetry and motifs: lotus flowers, pomegranate, birds of paradise, clouds.
Later pieces show European influences, featuring a wider variety of stylised flowers in a greater colour spectrum.
Those that work particularly well for me, in furnished rooms are those designed with very simple centre and slightly more decorative border.