aksu (Carrying Cloth)

Three bands of phantasmal birds on a large plain ground.

Complementary warp, uneven twill and an ancient stitch used to join the two halves, decorative tubular edging. Natural brown and black alpaca wood, red dye.

Rectangular brown cloth with wide patterned bands along the vertical edges. The brown ground has a seam down the centre where the two halves were stitched together with dark brown string. The edging of the cloth is rounded with a pink and white diamond pattern, stitched on with dark brown thread. The patterned bands along the edges are made up of dark red stripes separating three bands containing figures of birds. The bands on the left are black and purple, those on the right are red and pink.