Contemporary Maimana kilim - 145 x 100 cm

A market day in Maimana, in northern Afghanistan, probably looks something like this kilim. Red, violet, turquoise, orange, laid out side by side with a generosity that has nothing to prove. At the centre, two large diamonds lock into one another like concentric hearts against a vivid red ground, while a round of hexagonal medallions dances across the ivory of the border.

The turquoises and oranges undulate from one medallion to the next, that abrash which gives the wool a living breath, never quite the same from one form to its neighbour. A contemporary kilim, but woven with the patience of the ancients, that does not know how to be discreet and has no desire to be. A joy woven by hand, that one never looks at without smiling a little.

One of a kind.