Antique Turkish Kilim Size: 3'8" × 4'8" Date: 1870s Material: Wool on Wool Central Anatolian kilims of the 19th century are among the most colour-rich of all Turkish flatweavings, and this example from the 1870s shows why — the palette is unusually broad for the tradition, incorporating tones that reflect both natural dye variety and the early introduction of some synthetic colours that were beginning to reach Anatolian village markets by this period. The composition divides into a central crimson panel running the vertical length, containing a column of five hexagonal medallions in ivory, gold, and lavender-grey, each filled with angular geometric devices and serrated forms. Wide side panels flank this central column on both sides, filled with a dense repeating pattern of large geometric tree or medallion forms in dark brown, teal, gold, lavender, and ivory — each one slightly different, the whole reading as a broad, busy frame around the more ordered central axis. The colour range is what immediately distinguishes this piece — the lavender-mauve tones alongside the teal and gold create a palette that sits outside the typical madder-navy-ivory Anatolian register and gives the kilim an unusually varied, almost painterly surface. The natural madder red of the central panel remains strong, providing an anchor for the more varied tones surrounding it. A colourful and characterful village kilim from a period of genuine transition in Anatolian textile production.