This daring composition combines some of the traditional motifs of Kyrgyzstan, the mountainous country of Central Asia, with the spotted coat of an Appaloosa, the horse bred for centuries by the Nez Perce Native American tribe in the north-west of the United States.
The motifs against which the silhouette of the animal stands out are inspired by shyrdaks, felt carpets made by Kyrgyz women according to ancestral techniques passed on from mother to daughter.
Warm, solid, insulating, indispensable and beautiful, they form one of the great riches of nomadic life. The illustrator Alice Shirley took pains to faithfully reproduce the legacies of this little-known culture.
