Large Central Asian Chuval. Probably not Turkmen. a similar piece in the Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg has been described by Elena Tzareva as a "Kirghiz Kap" (Tzareva, 1984 no. 141) This seems as likely a theory as any. Another possible designation may be ' Uzbek ' but what either of these two ethnic descriptions really meant in 19th century pre-Soviet Central Asia can be hotly debated. This piece has a great soft feel with wool almost reminiscent of some Chinese weavings. The drawing seems a bit bolder than others of this banded type. i particularly like how figure 'S'es are formed in the red negative space of two of the bands. Size is 6'9" x 3'6" (206x 107cm).