Uzbek Julkhyr (sleeping rug) around 1900

Formerly part of the Robert Pinner study collection

Design

The design of this shaggy Uzbek sleeping rug (Julkhyr) is stunning, very coarse, bold and archaic, featuring a type of gul with an eight-pointed star with a diamond inset surrounded by a hooked outline. Every gul is rendered differently. The ample space between main guls is filled with improvised checkerboard and checked diamond and triangle motives. The field is surrounded by a simple irregular brown and white boxes border and a blue and yellow border with reciprocal triangles froming a kind of simple zigzag band.

Colour

A limited palette wih probably all natural dyes, a nice abrash in the madder-red field ground colour. Other colours include a dark indigo, natural brown wool, off-white and a pale yellow. The yellow shows some tip fading. I can see no dye bleeding.

Structure

The rug measures 198 x 122-124 cm (6ft.5in. x 4ft.). Very coarse Gabbeh-like structure. Symmetric knots, no warp depression, 5 knots per inch horizontal and 4 vertical (ca. 20 kpsi). Dark brown wool warps and brown wool wefts, 4 weft shots each with two threads after each row of knots. This makes the structure strurdy, light and very flexible. Selbvages are not original, one cord runs all around which is overcast with brown wool.

Condition

Still quite good pile with even wear (see images), the brown foundation is showing in places. The rug was quite dirty when I acquired it, has since been professionally washed and is now clean. No tears, spots, cuts, stiff areas or similar. According to the original decription from the auction house there are some repiars but I cannot spot them, perhaps they mean that the selvages have been re-placed. I am not sure what the original selvages looked like or whether there has been any loss to the sides in the process.

Other images