Rug Treaseures from Turkey December 09 2010

Rebecca recently traveled to Turkey, where she purchased some beautiful vintage and antique textiles. Today I want to highlight a couple pieces from the latest shipment from that have really been tugging at my heartstrings.

The first is a vintage Anatolian Kilim. It's fairly small, about 3'x3', with a richly variegated ground field and a warm red tribal motif in the center. It has a natural sense of balance and symmetry. The colors in both the field and the foreground fade vertically from deep, rich tones to a more muted pallete at the top, lending a sense of weight to the piece. Mighty purdy.

The second is an antique Tulu from the early 20th century. Tulus are village rugs, and were not traditionally woven for commercial use. They typically have a shaggy, sometimes looped mohair pile, and feature a wild variety of designs. This piece has definitely been used over the course of its life and has worn and faded wonderfully. It has a comforting, familiar quality, somewhat like a favorite pair of old jeans, and in the right light, the wear pattern actually gives it a silky, almost fluid appearance.