Indigo Girl

[Aksaray kilim fragment, Central Anatolia, circa 1800, private collection, Munich.

 I saved the image from Hali's spring 2009 issue.]

  

I'm drawn to the entire palette of this kilim fragment but, as I'm currently a little obsessed with leafy-green and soft-plum together, I especially like the combination of the two central stripes. Both colors have a blue base.

Someone who really knows her blues is indigo dye specialist Barbara Shapiro. In this de Young Museum blog post Shapiro sheds light on the extraordinary blues found in Anatolian textiles, as well as natural indigo's role in creating the very rich greens and purples in the museum's acclaimed McCoy Jones kilim collection. There are roughly two weeks left to see two dozen of the most exceptionally colored flat-wovens in The Art of the Anatolian Kilim, The San Francisco show closes July 29.*

*The closing date was extended after the museum's earlier post was published.