BALIKESIR PROVINCE, NORTH WEST ANATOLIA, MID 19TH CENTURY

The archaic design of this group of kilims is immediately recognisable and particular to the Yüncü nomads from the Balikesir region which lies between Bursa and Bergama in north-west Anatolia. What at first strikes one as a very simple design, upon closer inspection is in fact a rather more complex arrangement of three indigo 'Trees of Life' framed by a further hooked border, laid upon the shaded coral-red ground. Other regional descriptions of these vertical hooked columns are "Ram's horns" or "Scorpion's tails", (James Opie, Tribal Rugs, Singapore, 1992, p.68). The palette predominantly consists of just these two colours which is another of the distinguishing features of this group, however there is a further sub-group which utilises a third green colour, is slightly larger in size and woven in two panels (see lot 296 in the same sale). Interestingly only the diagonal and horizontal arms are outlined in ivory and the vertical lines are left free of further colour, (Yanni Petsopoulos, Kilims, Fribourg, 1979, pp.79-81). The small embroidered amulets and stellar motifs that run up the trunks of the trees carry further symbolism and add greater individuality. A very similar example is illustrated in Petsopoulos, Kilims, ibid, p77, pl.88. Further examples can be found in the Vakiflar Museum Istanbul, (Belkis Balpinar & Udo Hirsch, Flachgewebe des Vakiflar-Museums, Istanbul, Wesel 1892, pl.43, p.140-1; and the Gulgönen Collection, Istanbul, (Gulgönen Koleksiyonu, 18th-19th century Anatolian Kilims: The Gulgönen Collection, Exhibition Catalogue, Istanbul, 2011). Perhaps one of the most powerful examples from this group, which unusually consists of a single dominant 'Tree of Life', was formerly in the collection of Ignacio Vok, which sold for a record price for a kilim of this type, (Vok Collection, Selection 3, Rippon Boswell, 25 March, 2017, lot 236).