Multicolor Cicim Handwoven Wool Kilim

A hundred and sixty-one wide by three hundred and thirteen long, which is a proportion close to two to one: a multicolored cicim kilim handwoven in Türkiye in wool over cotton, 161 × 313 cm (5'3" × 10'3"), brocaded in Anatolian motifs, and kept in a chest for most of its life. One of one. That ratio is the useful thing here.

01Which furniture, which room

Two to one is the shape of a dining floor with chairs pulled back, of a bed with a walking strip on both sides, of a long sitting room where the seating faces across rather than along. Most modern rugs are made at three to two because that suits a square room, and a piece at this proportion solves a room the standard sizes cannot.

02What the yarn is

The multicolored surface — several dyes at once, none of them subordinate — means it does not need a color scheme built around it; it brings its own and everything else in the room can stay quiet. The construction is wool brocading and wool ground over cotton warps.

03The mark of slow weaving

Cicim motifs are added to the surface as the weaving goes, so they sit a millimeter or two above the field, and on an old piece that height is the first thing to have been rubbed down in the places where people walked. Look at the raised threads to read the history of the floor it was on.

04How it feels underfoot

Cleaning belongs to someone who washes kilims; ordinary rug shampoo will lift the brocading before it lifts the dirt. Handwoven in Türkiye: cicim brocading and wool ground over a cotton warp. 161 × 313 cm (5'3" × 10'3"), a proportion close to two to one. Suits a dining floor, a bed with walking room on both sides, or a long sitting room. Several dyes at full strength rather than one field with accents. The brocaded motifs stand a millimeter or two above the ground. Wear on the raised threads records where the piece was walked on. Kilim-specialist cleaning only; shampoo lifts the brocading first. Chest-kept, older, and a single piece. Proportion is the thing people notice last about a rug and regret first, and this one is shaped for a room the standard sizes ignore.