Afghan Maimana Kilim, Diamond Lattice Field, Wool Flatweave — 20th C. View Watchlist >
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Lot # F969
System ID # 29683266
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Afghan Maimana Kilim, Diamond Lattice Field, Wool Flatweave — 20th C.
A hand-woven tribal kilim in the flatweave tradition of Maimana, the market town in northwestern Afghanistan's Faryab Province that lends its name to one of the most recognizable kilim types in the trade. The field runs a continuous all-over diamond lattice the full length of the rug: concentric hooked medallions in rust, brick red, indigo-blue, and ivory set against a saturated orange ground, each diamond outlined in stepped black and centered on a small hooked motif. Scattered ivory ram's-horn and comb figures appear inside several medallions — protective symbols drawn from a tribal vocabulary common to Turkic and Uzbek weaving communities of the region. The field is contained by a reciprocal running border and multiple guard stripes, closing at both ends with broad black panels banded in orange and aubergine.
The palette — saturated synthetic orange, deep madder red, and purple-blue with grey-green accents — places this firmly in later 20th-century village production, when commercial dyes largely replaced the natural indigo and madder of earlier Maimana work. Woven in wool on a slit-tapestry structure with no pile, the kilim is reversible and reads cleanly from both faces — a format as useful on a wall as on the floor. Warp and weft counts of 15 × 11 indicate a moderately fine village weave for this type.
CONDITION
Fair. Staining, color bleed, and general soiling are present across the field; old repairs are visible in the field and along the black end panels. Fringe is worn and partly absent at both ends, with some edge loss to the end finish. Field pattern and colors remain legible throughout; sold as a decorative and usable piece with honest age-appropriate wear.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- 86" L × 52" W
- Warp Count: 15
- Weft Count: 11
- Construction: Hand-woven flatweave (slit-tapestry kilim)
- Material: Wool
- Origin: Maimana, Faryab Province, northwestern Afghanistan
- Period: Later 20th century (synthetic dye era)
- Markings: Unmarked
