Description Karadashli Main Carpet
279 x 149 cm (9’ 2” x 4’ 11”)
Turkmenistan, first half 19th century
Condition: good, scattered low pile, selvages rebound
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool
Although the design of this carpet is unusual it combines design elements that help to place its origin precisely. The borders are typical of 19th century Yomut weavings, as is the secondary gül but the major g?l, referred to Azadi as the Karadashli gul, and the elem are very unusual.
The Karadashli tribe were located at the southern area of the Aral Sea and further south in the Akhal Oasis from at least the 13th century, but these areas were later dominated by the Yomut in the 19th century and by the Chodor tribes, whose ertmen gül inspired the unique elem designs. Thus, by reading the histroy and design of this carpet correctly, this is a product of the intermingling of the three tribes in the first half of the 19th century before typical Yomut main carpet designs became the standard field patterns in the later part of the 19th century.