Fine Eagle Group II ? Okbash Fragment

47 x 45 cm (1' 7" x 1' 6")
Turkmenistan, early 19th century or before
Condition: good for its age, low pile in places, sides and ends slightly damaged, a small tear in the upper right corner
Warp: wool, weft: cotton, pile: wool

Even very experienced auctioneers occasionally come across items that leave one speechless. The format, design, and technique here are a mystery. Where has one ever seen such beautifully curved little trees on a fine white background?
How was it made? Flat-woven? No. Piled? Yes, with symmetrical knots. Tent band? Hardly, since the pattern is closed at the top and bottom. Okbash? Perhaps.
The left side is damaged and no longer shows its original finish. This is where the triangles might have been located that, by sewing them together and joining the upper and lower edges, form the characteristic quiver shape.
However, the function of such okbash, as documented multiple times in older travel literature, was to protect the ends of yurt poles during transport on camels. Yet when one considers how much lighter and more flexible this piece is compared to typical okbash, one is almost tempted to revive this theory.
There is a small group of white-ground okbash that, in principle, display a similar but significantly more angular pattern. The best-known example is probably housed at the Textile Museum in Washington; see Mackie/Thompson, "Turkmen," 1980, no. 82. Two additional pieces are published in HALI 163, p. 97, and HALI 115, p. 150. None of them, however, has such soft and generous lines as our piece.
This brings to mind two embroidered asmalyks attributed to Kyrgyzstan in Felkersam's collection, as well as a piled version auctioned at Rippon Boswell on May 3, 1986, and the example at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Perhaps we should simply put it this way: It is an enigmatic feast for the eyes.

Estimate: € 10000 - 15000