PLATE TEN
Classic Group
4'10" x 6'11"

Here again is a kelim woven during the Classic period where no prehistoric icons appear in the design. Though unlike the previous example, where the presence of such early designs supplied a detectable underlying layer, no icons or their residual traces have influenced its pattern. Color and geometric form, the hallmarks of this weaving period, are the only elements used by the weaver/creator of this unusual slit-tapestry.

Like Plates One, Two, and Five, this example has also been rarely copied and irregardless of its have been made long after the Archaic period, it too is a prototype. Only two other kelims are known to share this design and both were most probably woven in the later Traditional period. All indications point to an area east of the Anatolian Plateau again differing from the other nine kelims illustrated here, which were all most probably produced within that geographic local. In this instance, this factor may supply the reason for its having been so rarely copied - its design was foreign and unknown to subsequent generations of Anatolian weavers.

The main design repeated within the largest stripes is a well known design frequently associated with architectural decoration. Its use is frequently encountered on mosques and other public buildings, located throughout the south-eastern Mediterranean and dating from the 12-16th centuries AD.




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