Semi-antique Kula kilim from Turkey. 210x138 cms

Semi-Antique Kula cicim Kilim

This semi-antique kilim from Kula, Turkey, features a composition set against a plain-weave ground in a soft pinkish-red tone. The central design is dominated by a large medallion formed by numerous small pıtrak (thistle) motifs, woven using the cicim technique, which adds texture and relief to the surface.

Two sides of the kilim are left without borders, while the other two are finished with a blue band that repeats the pıtrak motif seen in the main field, creating visual balance without enclosing the design completely.

The weave is thick and robust, making this kilim well suited for areas with heavy foot traffic. Its clean and versatile design allows it to work easily in a variety of interiors. There is a small stain.

Material: 100% hand-spun sheep wool

Size: 210×138 cms

Origin: Kula, Turkey

Date of weaving: 1960s

In Turkish, pıtrak is a motif whose origin is said to derive from an ideogram stylizing the sun, without which plants could not grow. However, this origin has been forgotten over the centuries, and the motif has been transmitted orally under a name inspired by an element familiar to pastoral peoples: the small thistle well known to weavers, who spend hours removing it from the wool before spinning it. Does this mean that pıtrak, which refers to a plant whose burrs cling to clothing and, above all, to animal hair—particularly sheep’s fleece—is not connected to an ancient myth or belief? In rural contexts, the Turkish expression “pıtrak gibi”, literally “like thistle,” implicitly meaning “abundant like thistle,” seems to support this idea: the thistle would be nothing more than the representation of the plant from which it takes its name, symbolizing fertility, like the ear of wheat or the pomegranate, solely because of its vegetal nature.

A solar and feminine representation

This other observation, which brings us back to the sun, suggests otherwise: very near Ankara, at the Hittite site of Alacahöyük, ritual bronze solar standards have been unearthed. Dating from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC, they display a “thistle” similar to that found on kilims. Now, as we have noted in relation to the diamond symbol, the Anatolians regarded the sun as a feminine celestial body. Pıtrak would therefore indeed be a solar representation: the lozenge-shaped center of the motif would express its feminine nature, while the lines radiating from it would depict its scintillation—an effect to which a woman’s radiance is often compared.

“Symbolique des kilims” by Ahmet Diler