Multicolor Square Selendi Handwoven Cicim Kilim

142 × 166 cm (4'8" × 5'5") is very nearly a square, and a square is the shape almost no rug is, which makes this Selendi cicim kilim useful in the rooms that defeat a rectangle. Handwoven in wool and cotton in Türkiye, multicolored, with the motifs raised above a plain ground, and stored in a chest rather than used. A near-square field changes how the pattern is met.

01A line from the archive

There is no long axis to walk down and no short end to look at, so the eye goes to the middle first and then outward, and a close-repeated Anatolian drawing suits that better than a bordered composition would.

02Coming off the loom

The multicolored rows read equally in every direction, which is exactly what a square shape needs from its pattern. Handwoven in Türkiye. Wool and cotton both appear in the yarn record, and the motifs were laid over the ground with an added weft while the weaving went on — no needle was involved, though the raised drawing invites the comparison. Weaving close to square is unusual, because a loom is set up for a width and then run to whatever length is wanted; stopping at 166 cm was a decision, not a limit.

03From the hand of the weaver

Professional washing, and no home method. Handwoven in Türkiye in wool and cotton, worked as cicim. 142 × 166 cm (4'8" × 5'5") — near-square, for a landing, a square hall or under a round table. Raised multicolored motifs on a plain flat ground. Close repeats with no border, so the drawing reads equally from any side. A square is a shape a loom stops at deliberately, not one it produces by default. Chest-kept, unfaded and firm. Cleaned professionally. The only one of it. Round tables sit badly on rectangles, and this is the shape that problem has been waiting for.