Turkoman
Turkoman weavings were made by the nomadic people of Central Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries. These idiosyncratic rugs and trappings with their pared down palette of brick and liver reds, natural browns and ivories, with highlights of blues, greens and yellows deliver a very different aesthetic to the majority of Eastern weaving. Mainly produced in the Soviet states of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, many of their motifs show the influence of Mongol or Turkish culture with repeats of angular guls representing stylized flowers or perhaps heraldic shields and some rare pictorial representations of horses, riders, camels and birds. It is thought that these pieces were woven as functional objects for every day use rather than as decoration or for trade and this theory adds to the aura of authenticity that these weavings still evoke.
Ersari Carpet
Price on application
Turkmenistan, 19th Century
10ft 0in length x 5ft 6in width
3.05m x 1.68m