Afghan Ersari Main Pile Carpet

Thirty quartered octagons, marching in three rows. Nobody told them to stop.

This Ersari main pile carpet comes from Afghanistan and dates to the 20th century. It is wool. Ersari weavers are a Turkmen group, and a main carpet was the largest piece a family made, laid on the floor of the home and valued as a household's best textile. The brick red field holds three rows of ten octagonal guls, each divided into dark and orange quarters, with small diamonds between. Stepped diamonds fill the wide border, and the pile looks worn in places along the edges. Nine feet long and nearly six wide.

Repetition, handled properly, is never boring.