Bukhara rug, Bukhara also spelled Bokhara, Uzbek Bukharo, name erroneously given to floor coverings made by various Turkmen tribes. The city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, became prominent as a seat of Islamic scholarship in the early medieval period. During the first half of the 20th century its name was applied to rugs of various Turkmen tribes, but few Turkmen live around Bukhara, whose population is made up of Uzbeks and Tajiks. Some Turkmen rugs, particularly those of the Ersari tribe, may well have reached Western markets through Bukhara, but the best-known textiles actually produced within the city are the embroidered suzanis of the Uzbeks.
