MIDDLE AMU DARYA REGION, CIRCA 1880

Part of the Ersari tribe, the Beshiri settled in the middle Amu Darya valley around the 17^th century. Since they lived a more sedentary lifestyle than many Turkman tribes, they wove larger carpets on fixed looms. As such, they primarily produced main carpets similar to the present and the subsequent lot, which can be recognised by the use of a bright, clear green dye and a vivid yellow, far brighter than those used by neighbouring tribes (A. A. Bolyubov, Carpets of Central Asia, Ramsdell, 1973, no.28, p.73).

The rows of hexagonal medallions in the field of the present lot can be seen on earlier Beshir weavings, such as an example which Jürg Rageth dates to the late 18^th or early 19^th century (J. Rageth, Turkmen Carpets: A New Perspective, Basel, 2016, no.25, p.64). It also appears at the top register of a carpet in the Museum of Ethnography in St Petersburg which is attributed to the second half of the 19th century (No. 3180-1, publ. in Elena Tsareva, Rugs and Carpets from Central Asia, Leningrad, 1984, no.96, p.145). This is strengthened by a further carpet also from the second half of the 19^th century with a variant overall hooked gül design, with very similar borders to the present lot (J. Lefevre and J. Thompson, Central Asian Carpets, London, 1976, no.22).