The art of carpet weaving has a long history in Turkmenistan and neighboring northern Iran, east of the Caspian Sea. Here handmade Turkmen carpets are woven from pure wool and have an amazing beauty and durability. Among the Turkmen, rugs of this large scale are used chiefly on ceremonial or other special occasions by tribal khans or wealthy urban dwellers. In most carpets, the design consists of a repeating primary motif called a gul, which some think served as a badge of tribal identification, along with a usually smaller secondary motif. This rare early example, however, displays a different kind of pattern, with two different motifs of equal scale. Probably borrowing from Persian or Caucasian designs, Turkmen weavers made these motifs their own, adapting the asymmetrical originals and over time transforming them into the symmetrical, octagon-based patterns for which they had a preference.