Oriental Rugs Dictionary
Saryk
Early Saryk carpets are among the most beautiful of all Turkoman weaving. Little remains to show of the early 19 Century Saryks, when their work was almost entirely of wool, with the occasional use of silk and white cotton for highlights. The designs were closely related to the Salor but had fairly specific features of their own.
By mid 19 Century, upon forced migration, they began to adopt features of Tekke weaving. Their work became lighter in tone, with use of a light red brown and a slightly purple red; and a new richness was evident in the amount of silk used in large areas of crimson-red wool pile. By the end of the Century Saryk weaving were almost completely dominated by the powerful Tekke tribe.
Saryk works were originally woven for their own use and therefore examples prior to 1880 are extremely rare. The largest surviving group of early Saryk weaving is to be found in the Museum of Ethnography of the people of USSR in Leningrad.
