Early Salor Chuval

Early Salor Chuval
132 x 80 cm (4' 4" x 2' 7")
Turkmenistan, 18th century
Condition: good according to age, mostly good pile, corroded purple silk, two repairs at upper end, scattered small repairs, lower end incomplete
Published: "Gewebt and geknüpft V, die Pracht der Saloren", Georg Butterweck, 2013, p. 40
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool and silk

While this exceptional Salor chuval is no larger than the approximately fifty other Salor chuvals known, the scale of the three Salor gols dominating the centre of the field immediately sets this example apart. One of the most important parts of weaving any pile object is getting the correct ratio of warps and wefts and then the knots vertically and horizontally therein allow for
the best articulation and expression of the motifs.
In this example the height and width of the main motifs are just about the same, which is why the main motifs seem to dominate the whole field pattern—something that is enhanced by the oxidisation of the cochineal silk in the centre of the medallions.
The back of the rug reveals much to us as well, such as that the outline of the gols is in fact a deep green instead of the indigo blue that is more typical, and that the wool is dyed in three different shades of red; the work of Jürg Rageth in Turkmen Carpets: A New Perspective informs us that these hues will contain the insect dye lac, imported from India, alongside variations in tone of madder. All of these Salor chuval gols have the same major and minor gols, and the same borders.
It means that comparison between examples is matter of connoisseurship and experience, which in turn leads us to the conclusion that this is one of the best examples of the genre outside of museum collections.