Vintage Adana kilim – 290 × 165 cm

Across this Adana kilim, woven some 60 years ago, eight large hooked diamonds align in four rows, each enclosing a lighter diamond where a cluster of small hooks bursts open, like the gesture of a hand opening to protect what it holds most precious. The red that envelops them varies slightly from one row to the next, that abrash which betrays a wool dyed in several baths, by hand.

Against a black ground, the border runs a red river in zigzag, punctuated by small cream and coral fans like embers that refuse to go out, an unbroken thread keeping watch around the entire perimeter of the kilim. Across its 290 x 165 cm (9'6" × 5'5"), this composition holds itself upright by the sole force of its repetition, and does not allow itself to be forgotten.

One of a kind.