Bashir

This Central Asian Bashir carpet was most probably woven by ethnic Turkmen women in one of several oasis towns along the Oxus River, in what is now Uzbekistan. Accented with minimal but effective highlights in white and gold, a medium-scale repeat abstracted floral ‘Herati’ pattern is drawn in madder-red against a deep indigo field. The palmette type used here is not of the standard Persian variety, but rather a local ornament often seen in Ersari Turkmen weaving. The piece is framed by an active system of borders that are both highly geometric and evocative of floral imagery. Property of a New York collector.