First half 19th century, 374 x 169 cm, Central Anatolia, Cappadocia

VOK Collection: Anatolia 76

Abrashed in several places, the red field of this two-panel kilim is dominated by two huge nested hexagons with serrated outlines. The lateral outlines of the motif consist of brilliant white hooked bands ending in diagonal hooked arms stretching away from the corners. A small hexagon has been placed between them slightly above the centre of the field, with six very long, straight horizontal parallel lines extending from its corners and almost touching the sides of the field. This rare design is not encountered elsewhere in the same compositional context, and directly comparable pieces are currently unknown. The spaces not covered by the primary design are filled with serrated hexagons aligned on the central axis, hooked hexagons set along the sides and many small devices. The lateral main border – a sharply serrated brown band on a yellow ground – combines with the field to produce a reciprocal trefoil design. The same trefoil border is seen, for instance, in a kilim from the McCoy Jones Collection, the Vok kilim A 66 and one further kilim in the Galveston Collection (see Petsopoulos 1991), which also displays the same box shapes containing a spider gül in one of the elem panels. Slight variations in the colour and style of the two bands suggest that they were made by two different weavers. – Incomplete ends, slight signs of age and wear. Mounted onto canvas.

COOTNER, CATHRYN & MUSE, GARRY, Anatolian Kilims. The Caroline & H. McCoy Jones Collection. San Francisco-London, 1990, Tf. 44 *** PETSOPOULOS, YANNI, 100 Kelims. Meisterwerke aus Anatolien. München 1991, Nr. 81 *** FRAUENKNECHT, BERTRAM, Frühe türkische Tapisserien. Nürnberg 1984, Tf. 17

VOK, IGNAZIO, Vok Collection. Anatolia. Kilims und andere Flachgewebe aus Anatolien. (Text: Udo Hirsch) München 1997, Nr. 76