Kazak Medallion Olive Gold

The Afghan-Kazak weaving tradition, revived by master weavers in northern Afghanistan drawing on classic Caucasian Kazak prototypes, is celebrated for its bold draftsmanship, saturated natural dye palette, and a structural vitality rarely matched in contemporary pile weaving. This new 175x244 cm hand-knotted wool piece presents a tripartite medallion composition across an expansive olive gold field — an unusual ground colour that lends the composition an archaic, almost archaeological warmth.

The uppermost medallion is rendered in deep crimson with navy and ivory insets; the central medallion anchors the field in cream and steel blue with a sunburst rosette core; the lower medallion returns to crimson framed by saffron yellow serrations and a midnight blue diamond heart. Scattered between them are hooked squares, cruciform rosettes, and small geometric satellites that animate the field without crowding it.

The border system is classically Kazak in architecture — a wide ivory main border carrying stylised arrow-head and crab motifs, bracketed by narrow reciprocal running-dog and geometric guard stripes in navy, gold and red — with a broader secondary band of bold tribal chevrons along the lower end guard, a hallmark of the Afghan workshop interpretation. Fringe is present at both ends, hand-knotted in the pile warp. A piece of genuine tribal authority, it carries the graphic confidence of a Caucasian antique rendered in the clean wool and precise knotting of a contemporary Afghan atelier — suited to collectors who prize bold geometry over decorative prettiness.