Pileless floor covering handwoven by tapestry techniques in Anatolia, the Balkans, and parts of Iran.
The name is also given to a variety of brocaded, embroidered, warp-faced, and other flat-woven rugs and bags. A common characteristic is a slit that occurs wherever two colours meet along a vertical line in the pattern. The finest examples are silk 16th–17th-century pieces from Kāshān, Iran. The largest kilims are produced in Turkey, as are smaller examples and prayer kilims (prayer rugs); Turkish weavers often use cotton for the white areas, and small details may be brocaded. The kilims of the southern Balkans, originally copies of Turkish types, gradually developed individual styles. Kilims become progressively less Asian in colour and pattern as the distance from Turkey increases.