Orange Anatolian Handwoven Wool Mut Kilim

A narrow, long kilim: 131 × 313 cm (4'4" × 10'3"), about 4.1 square meters (roughly 44 square feet). Wool throughout, handwoven in Türkiye. It is more than twice as long as it is wide, a proportion that makes it a kilim for a long path rather than a room. Two kinds of motif alternate across a diagonal grid on a dark brown ground.

01The tone of the ground

One is a cream star with curling tips and a mostly orange heart; the other a red diamond with a yellow or pale green center. Orange gathers toward the long sides. Along the long sides an orange border carries white arrowheads; at the short end a cream band holds red, purple, olive and orange motifs. Mut is one of the districts of Mersin in the Taurus foothills, and the name in the title points to the kilim's pattern family.

02A line from the archive

The radiating, curl-tipped form of the cream motifs recalls the pıtrak, the burr motif, which the literature on Anatolian weaving associates with turning away the evil eye. Laid lengthwise in an entryway at least 160 cm wide, it leaves 15 cm of floor on either side and the orange border shows on both sides.

03After the color

The dark brown ground sits at the same depth as a walnut console or a leather pouf. The orange corners and red diamonds run warm; a blue-gray wall sets that warmth apart, and the edge of the kilim reads more clearly against it. At one short end the fringe is dark brown, twisted and left in bunches.