At the centre of these 130 x 96 cm (4'3" × 3'2"), a arched niche opens onto a deep red ground, and within it, a blue-grey tree of life rises silently upward, its branches carrying mirrored motifs that resemble birds settled in the foliage. It is one of the oldest symbols in Anatolian weaving, that of life growing, branching, enduring.
Around it, a dense black border teems with multicoloured hexagons, white, anise green, orange, grey, each different from the last, woven some 65 years ago in Esme with that precision characteristic of Western Anatolia. A piece one looks at from a distance for the composition, and up close to never want to stop.
