Turkmen rug | 170 x 121 cm | Nr. 20536

Geometric Turkmen rug, dark red with medallion and border

Origin	Turkmenistan
Dimensions	170 cm x 121 cm (= 2.06 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	360.000
Pile height	6mm
Year of manufacture	2010
Colour	Dark red, beige
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

This rug was knotted by members of the Turkmen tribes. The Turkmen are known above all for their Bukhara rugs. Bukhara (sometimes also written Bochara) is an oasis city in Uzbekistan that lies on the former Silk Road. Although no rugs were actually knotted in Bukhara itself, the city gave its name to many Oriental rugs, because they were traditionally exported to the West from Bukhara. These rugs, however, were knotted by Turkmen tribes such as the Yomoudh or the Tekke.

Pattern

The abstract, geometric composition is what gives this Turkmen rug its understated elegance. The pattern flatters the design of the room without drawing attention away from the furniture, the décor or the architectural features. It creates a pleasant atmosphere without dominating the style of the room.

The lavish floral motifs of this Turkmen rug are elegantly drawn and full of variety. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

At the heart of the central field of this Turkmen rug lies the symmetrical centre, also known as the medallion. The design of the field is subordinate to the medallion, so that the medallion seems to float on the field.

The edge of the rug is framed by a surround (border). The border forms a splendid contrast to the centre.

The background of this Turkmen rug is dark red. The border is worked in dark red, terracotta and beige. Terracotta and blue grey are combined in the dark blue centre.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Turkmen rug is over 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural colours and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant dyes is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical colours. For a luminous red, for example, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dye per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that is not too pale, you even need two kilograms of weld dye per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours allows the high-quality wool to keep its natural lanolin content. Naturally dyed, hand-spun wool creates fascinating, shifting patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, comes into its own as a contrast in modern interiors, but also in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country-house style. In this Turkmen rug even the foundation is made of pure silk. Thanks to this thin yet hard-wearing material in the weft and warp threads, a particularly fine knotting and therefore a particularly fine pattern are possible.