PROBABLY BERGAMA DISTRICT, CIRCA 1800

The field design of this long carpet is the aq su or "white water" design found on a number of Turkman smaller weavings but not normally associated with Turkey. The common ancestry has rarely had such an obvious artistic demonstration! A related carpet, dating from the seventeenth century or earlier, where the design motifs are further removed from the Turkman, arranged in strict columns and rows, is in Istanbul (Balpinar, Belkis and Hirsch, Udo: Carpets, Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, Wesel, 1988, no.65, p.134, pl.pp.306-7).