Salor Main Carpet

Salor Main Carpet
318 x 268 cm (10' 5" x 8' 10")
Turkmenistan, ca. 1800
Condition: very good according to age, mostly good pile, both ends partially minor incomplete, scattered small repairs, selvages rebound
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool with silk highlights

There are approximately just over forty complete Salor main carpets known, across which the consistency of design features is quite remarkable. There is very little difference in the drawing of the main gülli göl or the secondary mini-chuval gül, or indeed the main or minor borders.
The strength of the design tradition has led a number of authors to consider Salor main carpets to be the classical carpets of Central Asia, probably made in a workshop rather than within a tribal enclave. There can be slight differences in the amount of cochineal-dyed silk, the number of columns and rows of güls, and the ground colour.
This example has only a little bit of silk at the very centre of the gülli göls. The bright-red ground is of exceptional clarity and typifies the Salors' mastery of dyeing with madder in what must have been multiple dye baths. The use of six columns of twelve güls results in nice tall and rounded gülli göls and almost ideal proportions to the placement of motifs throughout the field. The almost perfect state of preservation is remarkable for this age.

Estimate: € 50000 - 70000