Nomads and Former Nomads of Central Asia
Central Asian Rug Fragment
Central Asia, Uzbekistan
19th Century, Wool pile
63.5 x 119.3 cm (25 x 47 in.)
Anonymous loan
Uzbekistan is a modern political construct, composed of an ethnic mix that is forbiddingly difficult to disentangle. Until recently, relatively few weavings came onto the market from this area of the world, and thus have been little studied. Although some features of this fragment link it to the settled Ersari Turkmen tradition, it more comfortably fits in with the piled weaving of the Uzbeks. The border pattern is of a type developed and refined in the Islamic world, in which motifs that can be visualized in more than one way are combined in an endless repeat. The simple field pattern is probably derived from Chinese carpets.