Arabatchi chuval

Arabachi group pieces have a special place within the history of Turkmen weaving. Recognizable by their distinctive color pallet and construction, Arabachis often retain features of older more archaic Turkmen drawing. This Arabachi Turkmen chuval draws classic ‘chuval guls’ with a ‘chemcheh’ minor variant that is sometimes seen on main carpets. The incomplete elem, or bottom panel, preserves remnants of stylized trees against a deep plum ground. The dark madder ground is modulated throughout switching from plum to chocolate, and tones of brick red. The use of several shades of blue as well as a madder-derived orange indicate that this piece most likely dates to before the late 19th century, at which time the palette of these pieces becomes less diverse and a synthetic derived orange is frequently used. In keeping with Arabachi structure, this piece is asymmetrically knotted open left and uses cotton and camel wool weft.