Siawosch U. Azadi handled this chuval at The International Hajji Babba's "Tremendous Transatlantic Turkmen Treffen" in August, 20007 and declaired it Kizil Ayak. When queried regarding this designation, in light of the knot count (seeming low for a Kizil Ayak) Azadi declaired the knot count inconsequential to the class.
The knot count is variable in this chuval, which would seem in keeping with the wonkiness of the drawing, and ranging from the stated 65 kpsi up to 110 kpsi. This fluidity of design suggests that it could be a weaving of tribal origin, woven on a simple portable loom, and subject to the verieties inherent in the design and construction, of execution and materials, under such conditions.
I designate the number of colors used in the wools of this chuval to 10+, in recognition of the number of the shades of color found in this weaving. I would think that if all variables of shade were considered individual colors, that the number could exceed 20.
The simplicity of the border design, with it's kochak or ram's horn motive and simple barber pole guard stripes, are a prime indicator of age.
This chuval demonstrates several remarkable design characteristics, not the least of which is the prominence of the chemche gul in the overall composition. This prominence of the chemche gul, of both size and import , suggest numerous observations and assertions regarding the design and execution of this Turkmen bagface, and by extension Turkmen weaving in general.
In the first instance, these large chemche guls are connected in the vertical plane by a series if dots, as if place keepers or a continuation of line, defining the field (in conjunction with the borders) into three columns. Perhaps these lines represent artifacts of a temporal gridwork, used by the weaver to determine the size and placement of the various elements upon the field?
Second, the internal drawing of the central "shield" of the chemche is strongly reminescent of the drawing of the both the Kurbaghe gul of the Tekke and the Ara gul of the Yomud, correlating with the observations of Thompson and Pinner, who assert that earlier weavings tend to incorporate characteristics of Turkmen weaving in general, and less of specific tribal affiiliation
Third, it is of significance that all four of the major design elements consists of lines connecting the points of a right-angled quadralateral.
Beginning with element 1, (an arrangement of "dice flowers" interspersed between the four large "Kotchak Cross" like elements of the elem) we are at first struck by it's resemblance, both in composition of the individual elements and their arrangement ( so as to describe right angles if intersected at their central points), to the ormanents found in the elem of the Tekke Engsi.
In element 2, the large "Kotchak cross" like device, four of which are found in the elem (and here reconstructed) , we find near the same arrangement of the individual elements so as to describe right angles when intersected at their central points, just as in element 1; in fact these cardinal points are one and the same in both elements.
In element 3, the chuval gul, we find the same right-angled quadralateral arrangement of the components. If one superimposes Element 2 over Element 3, one finds the same arrangement of cardinal points, as with Element 1 and Element 2. This same relationship exists between Element 3 and Element 4, the Chemche gul, and in fact among all of these design elements, as it is readily apparent that they are variations upon the same theme, the construction and arrangement of design elements using a temporal grid pattern.
