MIDDLE AMU DARYA REGION, MID 19TH CENTURY

Beshir carpets woven in the kelleh format were produced in the workshops of the Ersari and Beshir Turkmen, initially as commissions for wealthy citizens in Central Asian oasis towns and later also for export to the Tsarist Empire. The present field is densely filled with a simplified variation of the known Herati design, consisting of blossoms and palmettes in warm shades of red, placed on a graphite-grey ground. The main border consists of stacked ak gaimak guls, polychrome banded octagons, which proved highly popular as an overall repeat pattern within Ersari weavings. A large octagonal medallion composed of concentric circles lies at the center of the field while four distinctly smaller medallions adorn the corners. A comparable but larger kelleh is discussed by Uwe Jordan, (Oriental Rugs, Volume 5 Turkoman, Augsburg, 1989, p.300, pl.280).