Please View All Photos! A Very Rare Type of ANTIQUE CAUCASIAN KAZAK (Door Cover) KILIM (created solely for personal use as tent opening covers and for cottage door frames), Southern Caucasus Mountains area, Kazak weaving district, end of the 19th century, and coming in A+ overall original condition for the collector, designer, or decorator. The exact size is: 3'-7" x 7'-5" (109 x 226 cm). A visually bold antique Caucasian textile art creation that is all wool in construction with beautifully colorful natural dyes derived from organic plant sources. Called "Zili" by antique rug traders in the East, this kilim is structurally comprised of three different types of flat-weave techniques: weft-faced plain weave, slit tapestry weave, and weft twining. These rarely seen design types of antique Caucasian kilims were utilitarian in nature and created in the Kazak region by both nomadic tribal peoples and village dwellers purposefully for their own personal use as door covers (like the Turkmen "ensi") for tents and cottage door frames. This example comes fresh to the market in A+ pristine condition. The over-castings on both sides are original and complete. Both the top and the bottom endings are original and complete, with the bottom end retaining most of the fancifully tied-off warp end finishes, remarkable in and of itself (view all photos). There are just a few minor and tiny professional repairs to abrasions and nicks on the sides from past ethnographic age use as a door cover that are difficult to find without a trained eye (just being totally honest). This outstanding antique Caucasian Kazak textile relic has been professionally cleaned to museum standards and is now immediately ready for a collection or use as a dramatic wall hanging display. A rare acquisition for any tribal, nomadic, or village rug collector.

In the antique rug book literature, I found 5 comparable examples of this particular type of door cover kilim. 

Refer to: 

(1) John Wertime and Richard Wright, "Caucasian Carpets and Covers - The Weaving Culture", 1995, full page color plate # XXXVII, page 133, being near-identical to the present offering. 

(2) Robert Nooter, "Flat Woven Rugs & Textiles from the Caucasus", 2004, plates 103-106, pages 157-159.

Note: The authors of both publications explain that these unusual kilims were not only used by nomads to cover the openings to their tents, but were also used by settled peoples as covers for the door frames of permanent dwellings.

If you have any questions concerning this early antique collector's flat-weave Anatolian kelim, feel free to email or call Michael Phillips 3038857599. Please take some extra time to view the other fine antique rugs and weaving I have in my eBay Store (NO reasonable offers refused on these collector pieces). Remember to bookmark my eBay seller ID: imokub2 (I am okay, you be too) to your "favorite sellers list" to see future eBay offerings of antique Oriental rugs, carpets, tribal bags and trapping, kilims, and other antique Oriental textiles of merit. NOTE: All of my eBay offerings come with an unconditional 100% money back refund guarantee (including the initial s/h/ins. fees) if for any reason the winning bidder is not happy with their antique Oriental rug or textile art purchase from me.