Red Rose-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Kırşehir Pillow

In the Turkish trade a yastık is a small rug; the word means pillow, because pieces this size were woven as pillow faces. This one fits the name: 56 × 110 cm (1'10" × 3'7"), about 0.6 square meters (roughly 7 square feet).

01The Wool on the surface

Made by hand in Türkiye, in wool and cotton. A pink rose with green leaves sits inside the central medallion, drawn round rather than stepped. Some of the weaving known by the name of Kırşehir shows the influence of European ornament, and this naturalistic rose is generally associated with that influence, though nothing ties it to it for certain. The medallion has a salmon ground outlined in blue and violet.

02The tone of the ground

Black corner pieces fill the corners of the red field, with pink, blue and green flowers set in a row inside them. Small multicolored figures run around a brown border, and a row of heart shapes crosses each end, larger at the bottom. Red and green sit opposite each other, which is why the green leaves in the medallion stand out at once against the red field. A green binding runs along the long sides; short fringe finishes the short ends, pink at the bottom. It belongs in front of an armchair, outside a bathroom door, or across a divan.

To hang it, sew a batten along its full width. In front of a gray linen chair the pink and red look brighter, and on pale oak the brown border pulls the edge together. Just above and below the rose sits a small blue figure with outspread arms.