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Articles on Turkmen Rugs, Design, History and the Tribes

	An Unusual Saryk Carpet in the Islamisches Museum, Berlin by Robert Pinner Although Turkmen rugs have been studied for longer and rather more comprehensively than most post-classical carpets, many are difficult to attribute. Some, and this includes groups of smaller rugs as well as individual examples, possess too many features which set them apart from the established types, others possess too few, and hover on the border line between apparently well known groups. The archaic carpet fragment in the Islamisches Museum in Berlin ) falls into the latter category. read more........
	Turkomans and Scholarship - A Retrospective View by Murray Eiland, Jr. We should not be surprised that the regularity and formal organization of the classic Turkoman carpet usually attracts enthusiasts of a tidy and methodical frame of mind. Turkoman collectors are in many ways a breed apart, driven perhaps more than any other species of rug fanatic to label, categorize, and construct taxonomies for their chosen objects of passion. The idea that rugs may be specifically attributed to tribe and place of origin on the basis of their designs -- which has subsequently proved more illusory than useful -- appeals to their natural sense of order. read more....
	The Turcoman Tribes - 1882 by Edmond O'Donovan (special correspondent for the "Daily News") The Turkoman Tekke tribes of Merv has two tribes the Toktamish, on the eastern bank of the river , and the Otamish ,on the western. The Toktamish is the most numerous and also the senior tribe, but its precedence is purely honorary. Kouchid Khan ,who commanded the whole nation during its migration to Merv,and in the subsequent war with Persia was hereditary chief of the Toktamish. On his death ,his son Baba Khan succeeded to the headship of the Toktamish tribe only. His personal character was not sufficiently distinguished for the Turkomans to continue his father's authority in him, and the Otamish Khan successful asserted a claim to equality. read more........ Posted January 1, 2005
	The Tribal Gol in Turkmen Carpets by V.G. Moshkova Nowadays it would be rare to meet a carpet specialist who is unfamiliar with the appearance of Turkmen carpets. The world-wide fame of these carpets is well deserved, not only for their exceptional artistic qualities but also for the charm of their simple rhythmic designs and composition and their unusually rich range of colour shades. The local inhabitants of Central Asia were, however, far from imagining the role which carpets and carpet products play and have played in the land of whose population produced them. read more........ Posted January 1, 2005
	In Search of the Turkmen Carpet by Richard Wright This article tries to illustrate the richness of firsthand descriptions of Turkmen weaving and the nature of the historic sources which contain them. One group of documents consists of indigenous biographies, histories, and travelogues. There is, for example, the history of Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary I and what it has to say about the location and condition of Turkmen tribes early in the 19th century. An account of a diplomatic mission by Riza Quoly Khan is similarly useful for a picture of the fractious and independent Turkmen of the 1830s.2 This literature, however, tends to be descriptively weak concerning ordinary artifacts. read more... Posted January 19, 2005
	Thirty Turkmen Rugs - Masterpieces from the Collection of S.M. Dudin (Part 1, Salor Weavings) by Elena Tsareva The most remarkable of all known Central Asian rug collections is the pioneer group of textiles collected by Samuil Martynovich Dudin. The majority of the pieces are in the State Museum of Ethnography of the People of the U. S. S. R. , Leningrad, and some are in the State Hermitage, Leningrad. The history of how the collection came into existence is also interesting. read more....... Posted April 6, 2005
	Thirty Turkmen Rugs - Masterpieces from the Collection of S.M. Dudin (Part II, Saryk Weavings) by Elena Tsareva Dudin combined Saryk and Salor weavings into one group calling them “Pendehâ€‌ while we know at the time of his travels in Central Asia, that the Pendeh Oasis was inhabited by the Saryk while the Salor lived mostly in Serakhs. Dudin's theory that the Saryk did not weave carpets is very strange, and one wonders on what information this misconception was based. read more.......... Posted April 8, 2005
	Thirty Turkmen Rugs - Masterpieces from the Collection of S.M. Dudin (Part III, Tekke & Yomud Weavings) by Elena Tsareva "Merv and Akhal Tekkes are the most frequently encountered (pile products of the Turkomans) at the Central Asian markets. In quality they are slightly inferior to Salor ones; especially good in this respect are the old pieces, the newer ones are slightly more coarse, mostly because of the rough wool, while in technique they are nearly as fine as the old ones even on occasion being produced on order for small proprietors...." read more.... Posted April 9, 2005
	Reflections on the Engsi by Richard Wright Turkmen carpets and carpet-like items have clear functions-- khali (carpet), torba (bag), iolan (band), and so forth. One, however, may not be so straight-forward, the engsi. For any such question the proper starting point is a relevant dictionary (c. 1950), all of which define the word as a small rug without gols used as a yurt door closing. The Turkmen language has a nasal "n" which shows up here; its transliteration into English therefore is engsi. Ensi is a Russian conceit; the pre-revolutionary literature occasionally did try to get it right, Dudin with enki, Felkersham, with enksi.It is useful to get at meaning via etymology, but in this case, perhaps not possible. Radlov's great Turkish dictionary does not include the term. In any event figuring out what if anything the word reveals is a matter for specialists; a clue might be that it may come from Persian. read more....... Posted July 8, 2005
	The Tamga by Richard Wright European Russia became aware of Turkmen carpet art not long after the empire's expansion across Siberia and then south into Central Asia. The first instance was a folio (1879) compiled by N. E. Simakov, the product of a typical Russian "scientific" expedition into new colonial territory -- comprised of engineers, an hydrographer, botanists, a geologist, a zoologist, an art historian, and two painters -- which among other things included the artists' rendition of Turkmen carpets as observed in Samarcand. read more.. Posted November 24, 2005
	The Akhal Oasis by Richard Wright No outsider can get to bedrock with respect to Turkmen rugs. The Akhal oasis, however, may provide an opportunity for finding a few brass tacks. Although nowadays largely ignored in the lexicon, rugs of this small area were a discrete type in the pre-revolutionary Russian Turkmen carpet literature. read more....... Posted November 24, 2005
	Three From Turkestan by George O'Bannon & Paul Mushak A type of Salor or S-group torba which appears to have survived in greater numbers than the one Paul Mushak discusses below is shown in Illustration I. This piece is in an American collection and is one of the most stunningly beautiful Turkoman weavings we have seen. For similar examples in color, see Tsareva, Plate 12, HALI 32, p. 91 (also published by Bogolubov in black/white), or Sotheby's (New York), December 1, 1984, Lot 114 for the Black/Loveless piece, and Lefevre cover, Lot 2, November 30, 1979. read more..,,, Posted September 3, 2007 NEW !!

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TURKOMANS AND SCHOLARSHIP:

A Retrospective View

by Murray Eiland, Jr.

This article originally appeared in Oriental Rug Review, Vol. 8/2

Foreword

The following is a reprint of an interesting article tracing the evolution of Turkmen scholarship, written approximately 16 years ago. Needless to say, Turkmen studies have developed even further, underscoring the serious scholarship in this field of tribal rugs, a constant feature which is both comforting to those with an altruistic interest in art history as well as to the marketplace participants. Other groups of tribal rugs do not demand the depth of study which is required to fully understand the complexities of Turkmen structural anomalies and their bearing on attribution as well as the truly ancient design pool. In any case, this article with the original photographs (b&w) with the additional images (in colour) should serve to illustrate some of Eiland's well taken points, as well as illustrate how much further along Turkmen studies has come in these past 20 years.

While I have never fully agreed with Dr. Eiland's assessment of Turkmen weavings and have always respected Jon Thompson's past contributions to Turkmen rug studies, the article will be of interest to those who have only just recently been introduced to the Turkmen aesthetic and the additional photographs should intrigue even the most experienced collector.

Dr. Murray Eiland, Jr.		Dr. Jon Thompson

We should not be surprised that the regularity and formal organization of the classic Turkoman carpet usually attracts enthusiasts of a tidy and methodical frame of mind. Turkoman collectors are in many ways a breed apart, driven perhaps more than any other species of rug fanatic to label, categorize, and construct taxonomies for their chosen objects of passion. The idea that rugs may be specifically attributed to tribe and place of origin on the basis of their designs -- which has subsequently proved more illusory than useful -- appeals to their natural sense of order. They are intrigued by the notion that here lies a

complex and mysterious field that is subject to intellectual assault. It can be reduced to comprehensible terms and mastered through study. Real Turkoman collectors, often now labeled as Turkomaniacs, are probably more devoted to their books than the rest of us, and their diligent study has been rewarded with a massive literature during the last decades. Probably more has been learned about Turkoman rugs during this time than any other group, although the process seems to have stalled a few years ago.

Detail image of a Yomud mafrash. The appearance of elements of this type covering the field of a Yomud weaving is very unusual. Woven with a symmetric knot, the colourful palette is beautiful, again atypical for a Yomud attribution.

Consequently, the time seems ripe for a retrospective look at what has happened during the last 20 years. Many of us have been around long enough to remember the smug and secure feeling of the late '60s, when it appeared as though we had a good grasp of the field based on two solid pieces of on-the-spot literature. The 1908 volume by Bogolubov and the 1922 study by Hartley Clark seemed to cover the salient points, giving us the illusion that we knew something about Turkoman rugs. The catalog by C. D. Reed for a 1966 Turkoman exhibition at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum provides a good summary of what we knew at the time. A glance at this work, with much information we would now see as in error, reveals little comprehension of the complexity of the problems, nor did it include structural analyses of the rugs included. Indeed, Reed commented at one point that, "the collector of Turkoman rugs, in

pursuit of some rare prize, may find himself the sole enthusiast in sight, since not many share his interest..." As we know, this disinterest soon vanished into history, and the edifice of our presumed understanding of the field began to crumble during the next few years. The reasons for this were not hard to identify. The whole rug field was beginning to devote more attention to structure, which ultimately allowed certain groups of Turkoman rugs to be distinguished from others. At the same time access to those regions of the Middle East inhabited by Turkoman tribes improved to the point where Western scholars and traders began to circulate among the Turkoman groups of northeastern Iran and Afghanistan. Russian publications, most prominently the works of V. G. Moshkova, also began to attract a small audience in the West. The combined force of these factors, along with the many new publications the rug renaissance prompted, soon set in motion the wheels of change.

An apparent Yomud bag labelled Saryq by Moshkova. "...there are a number of obvious and major errors in the book, particularly in the captions to the photographs, and in my opinion, this should have alerted the reader that other material might be faulty as well

Perhaps the most important stimulus to the Turkoman boom came with Ulrich Schürmann's Central Asian Carpets in 1969. Here we were treated to plates of some of the finest of all Turkoman carpets, along with definite contributions to Turkoman scholarship. Several different types of Ersari rugs were distinguished, with the Beshire placed in a distinct category, and Chub Bash and Kizil Ayak rugs were described as separate entities. An obscure Soviet rug scholar named Moshkova was introduced to a wider audience, along with her ideas on the Turkoman gul.

By applying the Ogurjali label (after a minor Yomud subtribe) to several Yomud rugs Schürmann seems to have made the first move in a game that later became a favorite pastime of the Turkomaniac: associating a known type of rug with an obscure tribal group without sufficient corroborative evidence. Although there is much material in the Schürmann volume we would now see as erroneous, he gave the field an enormous boost, and his concern for such previously under appreciated types as the asmalik (3 color plates) did much to direct the attention of the emerging breed of Turkoman enthusiasts. There was still, however, little attention to structure, study of which determined the subsequent breakthroughs of the early '70's.

Lot 100 at Skinner's, December 6, 1987, a white field Ersari rug, 4'3"x3', was bought in, reaching $3,000 against a $5,000/7,000 estimate.

One key early point in this area, which seemed to have passed with little notice at the time, was May Beattie's observation, in the catalog to a 1971 exhibit of Turkoman artifacts (The Turcoman of Iran), that the asymmetrical knot used on most of the rugs was open to the right rather than to the left, as we find in the vast majority of Persian rugs. The impiications of this quirk, as a diagnostic tool, became apparent several years later. In 1969 McCoy Jones began a series of exhibitions sponsored by the Washington (later International) Hajji Babas. The first show focused on Ersari weavings, and it was accompanied by a small catalog without plates. Perhaps the growth of interest in Turkoman rugs can be surmised by a comparison of catalogs for these exhibits, as by 1976 (for a Yomud show), they had become fully illustrated and well bound.

Siawosch Azadi, in 1970, published a catalog to a major Turkoman exhibition in Hamburg, which circulated widely enough to stimulate further interest. (Later this work was revised and published with better plates by Simon Crosby.) Azadi's dating, which described one Tekke main carpet as 18th century or earlier and another as from the first half of the 18th century, has been questioned by many, but it helped create an atmosphere in which the Turkoman rug could be taken more seriously as a venerable and ancient art form. During the same year as Azadi's exhibit, McCoy Jones staged his second show, this time on "Rugs of the Yomud Tribes," which included several McMullan pieces and some of McCoy's excellent Yomuds. His 1973 exhibit covered tribal rugs of Afghanistan and included in the catalog a translation of a 1964 Dietrich Wegner article that became quite influential.

Lot 101 at Skinner's, a Yomud main carpet with a $3,000/5,000 estimate. It sold for $8,500 plus buyer's commission

In January of 1973 a Turkoman exhibit, organized by my brother and me, opened in Berkeley. The catalog was more useful in raising questions than in providing answers, as it became clear to me at the time that the old custom of differentiating between Tekke and Salor rugs on the basis of the guls seemed hopelessly inadequate. We did feel pleased to be able to display four Chodor rugs in different designs, including a tauk noshka. It seems almost shocking to reflect back now and recall that only rugs with the typical ertmen gul were then usually labeled as Chodors, although the peculiar structural and color characteristics should have made it clear that many other designs were also used. (The 1966 Fogg exhibit had labeled a Chodor tauk noshka as a Saryq rug.)

Later in the same year Jon Thompson's edition of the earlier Bogolubov work appeared, introducing the now fabled S-group. On the basis primarily of structure, particularly Persian knots open to the left (a follow-up on the Beattie observation), Thompson convincingly constructed a group which included main carpets with a characteristic gul, large jollars often with wide expanses of silk, and a number of smaller jollars in various designs. At the time he refrained from labeling the group with the name Salor, but several years later indicated that sufficient reason has developed to permit its use.

Lot 175 at Sotheby's October 30 - 31, 1981 sale. Deemed by the house a "rare and important Yomud azmalyk," it was thought by someone on the floor to be Saryq. That person backed up his conviction by paying $44,000 plus 10% for the piece

Altogether this was a fine piece of cautious scholarship that has stood up well, although to my mind, at least, the actual equation of S-group equals Salor is still weak. I seem to be a minority of one on this issue, however, as the labels in auction catalogs, rug books and in this Journal have clearly shifted so that now the rugs are pretty consistently labled as Salors. They also soon became the hottest item on the auction circuit, often bringing more money per square inch than the finest 6th century Safavid or Ottoman carpet. Perhaps the real significance of Thompson's work here, however, was the clear demonstration that careful attention to finer points of structure could pay large dividends, and here were several notable subsequent attempts to score similar coups.

The next contribution came from another type of information, that gathered directly from the field. In 1974 George O'Bannon's book, The Turkoman Carpet, presented on-the-spot information about Turkoman weaves, with the first extensive coverage of the kind of information being gathered by a small group of Americans and Europeans who began studying the rugs of Afghanistan during the late '60s. Coherent books on Turkoman rugs could be written up to this time by Westerners who had never seen a real Turkoman, but O'Bannon's extended stay in Afghanistan allowed him to give an update as to what was being woven by contemporary Turkoman peoples, and he gave the first clear accounts of rugs produced by such groups as the Chob Bash and Charshango. He also provided a new perspective for such previously used terms as Beshiri and Kizil Ayak.

Another Saryk asmalyk that sold at Rippon Boswell, November 10, 1990 for $156,767, nearly four times what the NY Sotheby's piece brought. Clearly, the Saryk attribution had been fully embraced by this time, nearly ten years later.

Unfortunately the field work begun by several Westerners in Afghanistan has been curtailed by the current war, and this is all the more to be regretted because it dealt with just the area that the early Russian writers, including Bogolubov, could not investigate. Indeed, despite several ethnographic studies of Afghanistan, there are still many questions about the relationships of the various tribes and subtribes in Afghanistan. Are such groups as the Beshiri, Chob Bash, and Kizil Ayak subtribes of a larger group termed Ersari, or are they just as separate as, for example, Tekkes and Yomuds? This whole area did not get quite the attention it deserved during the Turkoman boom.

It is difficult to identify the exact point at which the works of V.G. Moshkova began to make a mark on the Turkoman landscape. Her paper reprinted in a 1948 German journal was quoted by Schürmann, and her major work, Carpets of the Peoples of Central Asia, appeared some years after her death in 1970. By the mid '70s, translations of the German article and several key chapters of the book were circulating in xerox form in this country. McCoy Jones underwrote some of this translation, and apparently translations also circulated in England. Beginning in April, 1983, this journal began publishing the first complete English translation of Moshkova, completing it in December, 1984.

"This chuval was tentatively attributed to the Igdyr by curator of the Museum of Art. It has technical features liste by Moshkova for both Chodor an Igdyr rugs. Moshkova states that the five borders are used in Igdyr rugs instead of three, which is the case here. The dark brownish palette is relieved by a light red, green, and ivory. Palette may be a way of distinguishing Igdyr weavings from those of the Chodor, at least of a certain era." - Carpets of the People of Central Asia, p. 261, VG Moshkova, edited by George O'Bannon

The immediately appealing thing about Moshkova is that she had first-hand knowledge of Turkoman and other weaving tribes in the Soviet Union, beginning in the '20s, and she had a creative frame of mind that managed to reveal information in such a manner as to make even the most trivial and simple geometric ornament writhe with hidden meaning. Perhaps she would have made a wonderful rug dealer. The guls, of course, were more than flowers, becoming tribal emblems of such importance that unsuccessful tribes not only lost the right to weave their own designs, but were forced to weave the guls of others. She mentioned virtually nothing about structural details of the carpets she described, but based complex identification on elements of design. Consequently there are a number of

obvious and major errors in the book, particularly in the captions to photographs, and, in my opinion, this should have alerted the reader that other material might be faulty as well. But Moshkova attracted a special type of following, and soon we began to hear a whole new vocabulary of Turkoman rugs, in which the most obscure ornament had a name. To her the carpet seemed to be central in the Turkoman consciousness, as if the women existed for little other purpose than to express themselves on the loom. (When HALI first appeared in 1978, the Moshkova lexicon got a major boost, as did the whole Turkoman field.)

A Salor torba fragment located in the National Museum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. 1' 2" x 2' 5" A lovely weaving with a unique lattice design, a design that was unknown to Moshkova as well. It is my favourite Salor weaving, a feeling that is shared by Elena Tsareva as well.

The next major development seems Moshkova-related and appeared in an auction catalog from Lefevre and Partners in 1977. There Thompson followed up his S-group breakthrough with another new label and group. These rugs were attached to an obscure tribe called the Arabatchi, which had been mentioned in passing by Bogolubov, and who were described by Moshkova as using the tauk noshka gul on their main carpets. Beginning with such a main carpet, of a type not readily identifiable to another tribe, Thompson demonstrated how other pieces, including a type of engsi, were related on structural and color grounds. The existence of the group seemed clear enough, although not so firm as the S-group, but the Arabatchi label has not been so firm. Moshkova's comments about the tribe are not above reproach, as she contributed the highly dubious suggestion that Arabatchi designs are ancestral to those of other tribes.

With the Arabatchi in particular, the market witnessed the full flowering of a phenomenon that had been growing within the Turkoman boom. If a rug had a special label, it suddenly became more desirable. For some reason this soon became clear with the Arabatchi, whose rugs had never attracted attention for their beauty. It is no coincidence that news of their existence was announced in an auction catalog. In 1978 the Werner Loges book appeared, which did not introduce novel material but seemed to ratify such new material as the Arabatchi label. Turkomania seemed to dominate the auction houses, and ever higher prices were commanded by the new champion, the S-group.

Detail image of a "Beshir" group weaving. A fascinating fragment of a weaving from the middle Amu Darya region, possibly the prototype of the bird Oushak rugs from Anatolia(?).

1980 was a busy year for the Turkoman enthusiast, with the appearance of a beautifully illustrated Turkoman book by Peter Hoffmeister, the long awaited Turkoman Studies I, edited by Robert Pinner and Michael Franses, and the International Conference on Oriental Carpets in Washington that focused upon Turkoman matters. While the first book was basically non-controversial and did not include significant new ideas, Turkoman Studies I introduced much material from the Soviet literature that was previously little known in the West, including another translation of the early Moshkova paper.

Among the wealth of intriguing material, it also presented a paper by Pinner and Franses that related the rugs found in two early 15th century Herat miniature paintings to contemporary Turkoman nomadic rugs. To me it seems more likely that the later Turkoman carpet may have been based on urban Timurid carpets, particularly since the designs of these pieces may be traced back to much earlier Sassanian and Chinese textiles. The level of Turkoman enthusiasm in 1980, however, did not allow much room for a contrary view.

An exceptional Yomud sub group trapping. It measures approximately 4'10" in length and the 'gols' are nearly 2' in height. The knot is asymmetric open right. The kotchanak border is very much like those seen in Tekke weavings, but the design format as well as palette suggest an eagle group attribution.

Not long after Turkoman Studies I came along, the rug world focused on the 1980 I.C.O.C. in Washington, which, in retrospect, seems to represent the high point of mythical, creative Turkomania. The featured debut at the convention was the appearance of Türkmen, edited by Jon Thompson and Louise Mackie. The Thompson contributions, in my opinion, exemplified both the best and worst of recent scholarship. On the positive side was his calling attention to a rug in the Ballard collection which had been previously published but which had been generally overlooked. This fascinating piece, which easily could date to the 18th century, displays figures transitional between the palmettes we find in such Persian designs as the Harshang and such guls of later Turkoman pieces as the kepse. Indeed, here was proof positive of the origin of at least one Turkoman gul from a Persian floral design in the not-too-distant past. This came at a time when some enthusiasts were insisting that these guls were tribal emblems. (At the same 1980 conference, I presented a paper showing, I believe, that the "spread-eagle" gul was also descended from Persian palmettes.)

The other side of Thompson's work came with yet another attempt to identify a new group on the basis primarily of structural details. The Imreli label was never convincing, so far as I was concerned, as even the four rugs so designated in the exhibit seemed more dissimilar than similar, and surely there was nothing even remotely connecting them with the Imreli. How much less cautious this was than the original S-group formulation. The counter-attack seemed to begin in an innocuous looking catalog to an exhibit called Tribal Visions in Novato, California. Published in December, 1980, just two months after the Washington convention, the catalog addressed itself, in an article by Michael David, to the "birth of a new mythology," and was current enough to address the Thompson/ Mackie opus. Within months I heard McCoy Jones, who detested the catalog, describe it as "infamous, notorious throughout the world."

Detail image of an eagle group kapunuk in the National Museum, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. An incredibly rare and beautiful weaving with iconography reminiscent of ancient an Anatolian model.

The David article began by attacking some Moshkova derived concepts, particularly the "living gul / dead gul" thesis, the notion that the word "gol" is of entirely different origin from the word for flower, and that tribes subjugated by others lose the right to weave their own gul but must weave that of the victorious tribe. The support for all of these notions was never solid, but they had become part of the current Turkoman theology of the same people who began to use the local Turkoman terms for the most inconspicuous border stripes. The real vitriol, however, was directed at Thompson's Imreli label, which David described as a "half-developed schema," pointing out that the four examples in the catalog did not match the proposed Imreli criteria. He also criticized, for cogent reasons, Thompson's attempt to resurrect the Bokhara label for the rugs more commonly known as Beshiri. A paper of mine in the same catalog also argued, with illustrations that are, at least to me, convincing, that a number of common Turkoman border stripes were descended from the types of Kufic borders depicted on the rugs in Timurid miniatures.

The clash of opinion described here seemed healthy to me in that it represented a new openness in rug studies. Formerly, arguments on rug subjects had been rather cold affairs that never really came to life in print. The arrival of HALI made available a forum for expressing new ideas, but it soon became immersed in the Turkoman orthodoxy. With the appearance of Oriental Rug Review, however, there was at last a format in which both sides of a given issue could be represented. Indeed, this new journal contributed a piece in its January, 1982, issue, "Whither Turkomania?" by Lawrence Kearney that brought laughter as well as some enlightenment. It made the serious point that rugs with new labels, particularly the Arabatchi label, were just as dreary and uninspired as ever, despite their new provenance. (He also referred to Turkoman enthusiasts as Anal Retentives.) Up until that time the prices of Arabatchi pieces seemed to be escalating, but this piece of "Emperor's New Clothes" journalism seemed to have cooled it.

A large trapping, a middle Amu Darya weaving, possibly "Chobosh" or Kizil Ayak. The use of the 'ertman gol' is associated with both the Kizil Ayak and "Chobosh" Ersari sub groups as well as the Chodor. Structural characteristics define the groups. With light wool wefting and darker warps, these characteristics seem to defy the Kizil Ayak attribution as ivory warps seen with this group. Defining the "Chobosh" is still a work in progress.

A few months after the Washington conference, in October of 1981, the market reached a similarly stratospheric level. At Sotheby's in New York an unusual asmalik, which would probably not have approached $5,000 a decade before, sold for the staggering sum of $44,000 plus a 10% buyer's fee. Obviously the new blend of fact and fantasy had some true believers, who might not be willing to die for the cause but would certainly spend to support it. (Some observers of the trade believe that this particular auction represented a general high point in rug prices before the several year doldrums that are only recently being dispelled.) .How this state of affairs came about is curious, as perfectly rational individuals began to make comments about the aesthetics of the Turkoman rugs that, in retrospect, seem to represent a kind of overreaction. Soon after the Ballard piece was reintroduced, for example, I heard a great deal of discussion about its being one of the world's most beautiful and inspired carpets. However much I might find this carpet a fascinating transition piece, I cannot imagine the distorted, malformed palmettes as having anything to do with great art. As an adaptation of a Persian floral design, it is an utter failure. To see great depth in the piece, as with so many of the severely repetitive bag faces, is to attach more significance than they would seem to warrant. Perhaps there was some sense of this excess among the rug buying public, as prices began to slide after 1981. This was, of course, not so much a matter of slipping Turkoman popularity

so much as a loss in faith toward collectibles in general, but there was clearly some diminished enthusiasm into 1982 and 1983. The 1983 London I.C.O.C. proved significant in that for the first time in a decade the emphasis was definitely in other areas than the Turkoman. Although there was some talk of new labels, nothing really established itself. A paper of my own on the origins of Turkoman guls met a mixed reception in staking out territory at the opposite end of the spectrum from most Turkoman enthusiasts, although Thompson had made an important contribution in this same area. I contended that not only did the guls have no emblematic significance for the various tribes but that many (such as the Tekke and Salor guls) had descended from the roundels in various silk fabrics traded between China and the West as early as 300 A.D. Along with the earlier piece examining the role of the Kufic border in Turkoman design, a comprehensive counter-theory of Turkoman design was now avaliable, based on the idea that they were primarily nomadic adaptations of urban fabric designs. Soon after this piece was published, I spoke with Jim Ford, who had independently come up with a similar concept based on the same kinds of early silk fabrics I had cited. He noted that the one change he wished to make in his book before the German edition appeared was to mention this observation.

An extremely unusual Yomud group asmalyk, missing one vertical row of design. Published analogy in the Wiedersperg Collection.

Since then the machinery feeding the Turkoman boom seems slowly to have ground to a near standstill, and there has been some retrenchment. Travel to the Turkoman areas of Afghanistan is now impossible unless you have good connections with the Soviet Army, and those Turkoman tribes living in northeastern Iran are hardly more accessible. The well seems to have gone dry, at least so far as allowing us to identify obscure groups among existing rugs on the basis of some eccentricity of structure, nor can we count on Soviet scholarship, always a problem area, to provide fresh material. No major books on Turkoman rugs have appeared, and the 1986 Vienna conference did nothing to inspire the Turkoman faithful. A paper by Annette Rautenstengl suggested, indeed, that there was a coherent group similar to what Thompson had identified as Imreli in l980 but with no known connection to a tribe of that

name. At this point Thompson is alleged to have withdrawn the term, explaining that it had been a "provocation" to stimulate thought and was not intended to be a final word on the subject. So now the great Turkoman tidal wave has passed, which probably comes as something of a relief both to its participants and others in the rug field. Dealers may miss the heady prices, although serious rug collectors probably have a contrary view. Looking back at it, we must all be impressed by its intensity and by the genuine contributions it made. Comparing today's level of understanding of these fascinating rugs with what we knew in 1967 reveals the enormous strides that have been made. We are perhaps no longer so secure and smug, but what we know is based on firmer ground, and we have perhaps learned something of the process by which rug knowledge advances.

An unusual Tekke germetch; the whites are cotton, and the colours are exceptionally saturated. The drawing is exceptional including the primary border and the flowers in the elem. Uzbekistan State Museum of Art

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Azadi, Siawosch, Turkoman Carpets and the Ethnographic Significance of Their Ornaments, Fishguard, 1975, Crosby Press.

O'Bannon, George, The Turkoman Carpet, London, Duckworth, 1974.

Beattie, May, "Pile and Flat-Weaves: Technical Notes," The Turcoman of Iran , P.A. Andrews, London, 1971, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, pp. 37-41.

Bogolubov, A. A. The Carpets of Central Asia, Edited by J.M.A. Thompson, Ramsdell, Hampshire, 1973, Crosby Press.

Clark, Hartley, Bokhara, Turkoman and Afghan Rugs, London, l922, John Lane.

David, Michael, "Turkoman Rugs: the Birth of a New Mythology," Tribal Visions, Novato, 1980, Marin Cultural Center, pp. 17-22.

Eiland, Murray, Oriental Rugs from Western Collections, Berkeley, 1973.

Eiland, Murray, "Origins of Turkoman Guls," Oriental Rug Review, July, 1982.

Eiland, Murray, "Speculations around the Development of Turkoman Rug Designs, Tribal Visions, Novato, 1980, Marin Cultural Center

Hoffmeister, Peter, Turkoman Carpets in Franconia , Edinburgh, 1980, Crosby.

"Imreli Not Sure," HALI, March, 1987, No. 33, p. 26.

Kearney, Lawrence, "Whither Turkomania?" Oriental Rug Review , January, 1982, p. 8.

Loges, Werner, Turkmenische Teppiche, Munich, 1978, Bruckmann.

Moshkova, V.G., Carpets of the Peoples of Central Asia, Tashkent, 1970. (English translation, Oriental Rug Review, Vol. III, No. 1 through Vol. IV, No. 9)

Moshkova, V.G., "Gols auf Turkmenischer Teppiche," Archiv fur Volkerkunde, Vol. 3, 1948, pp.24-43. (This is a German translation of a paper that had appeared in 1946 in the Soviet Union.)

Pinner, Robert and Franses, Michael, Turkoman Studies I , London, 1980, Oguz Press.

Reed, C.D., Turkoman Rugs, Boston, 1966, Fogg Art Museum.

Schürmann, Ulrich, Central Asian Rugs, Frankfurt, Osterriech, 1969.

Thompson, Jon. Central Asian Rugs, Supplement One, London, 1977, Lefevre and Partners, page not numbered.

Thompson, Jon and Mackie, Louise, Türkmen, Washington, 1980, The Textile Museum.

Wegner, Dietrich, "Rugs of the Nomads and Farmers in Afghanistan," Baessler-Archiv, XII, 1964, 141-77

Copyright 1988 by Murray Eiland. Original text and photographs appeared in Oriental Rug Review, December/January, 1988.
With thanks to Oriental Rug Review, Ron O'Callaghan and Murray Eiland for permission to reproduce this review here.

نمونه قالی های ترکمن که در موزه برلین نگهداری می شود

An Unusual Saryk Carpet in the Islamisches Museum, Berlin

by Robert Pinner

This article originally appeared in OCTS , Vol. 1 (a HALI/OCTS publication)

Although Turkmen rugs have been studied for longer and rather more comprehensively than most post-classical carpets, many are difficult to attribute. Some, and this includes groups of smaller rugs as well as individual examples, possess too many features which set them apart from the established types,

others possess too few, and hover on the border line between apparently well known groups. The archaic carpet fragment in the Islamisches Museum in Berlin (inv. no. 17255, Figure 1) falls into the latter category.

Figure 1. Saryk carpet fragment, probably 18th century. The original carpet had 3 rows of gulli gols. 1.43 (2.07?) x 2.14m. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Museum für Islamische Kunst, Inv.no. I. 7255.

Orignally almost square in format, the carpet has been skillfuly cut and one of its original three rows of six gulli gols removed. It has also lost its ends and sides, including presumably, the

outer guard border, and judging by the angled design visible on the piece used to patch the long hole on the left, it may have had an additional outer stripe.

For a long time, the gulli gol was thought to be tthe exclusive property of the Ersari and, in various forms, of the neighboring Uzbek and Kirghiz weavers in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. In 1983, however, a well known carpet fragment with the gulli gol in the Textile Museum in Washington , DC (Figure 2), which had belonged in turn to Ames B Thatcher and Joseph V McMullen, was convincingly identifed as a Saryk weaving on the basis of the symmetric knot, its use of white cotton and its knot count (Table 1). which lies outside the normal range for Ersari carpets, and in 1985, a similar carpet was sold in the United States of which we have no structural data (Figure 3). Since only one of the three features which distinguishes the McMullen fragment is shared by the Berlin carpet, it is useful to try to define the relationship to Saryk and Ersari weavings more closely.

Figures 4 and 5 show Ersari carpets with "lobed" gols of similar outline and with very similar interior drawings to those in the Berlin carpet. They also share the same secondary ornament, a flagged version of the kurbaghe gol, although while those in figures 1 and 2 are filled by a broad diagonal cross with indented ends, those in the Ersari examples in figures 4 and 5 are in the slighlty different form of a symmetrical eight pointed star. The major border seen on the Berlin carpet was used on main carpets of the Salor, Saryk and Ersari, and the fact that the guard border with its "tuning fork" motif is also found on Ersari carpets is demonstrated in figure 4.

Figure 2. Saryk carpet fragment, formerly Joseph V. McMullen Collection, 0.23 x 0.26m The Textile Museum, Washington DC, Inv.no.1965.63.4

Nor do the colours offer a clear indication of the tribe which wove the Berlin carpet. The somewhat brownish red of the ground, and the apricot shade used within the gol are found in early Saryk as well as in som eearly Eresari pieces and are

often attributed to carpets of the middle Amu Darya region. Although the areas of white pile in the Berlin carpet are of wool rather than cotton, this too is not unusual for early Saryk carpets.

Figure 3. Saryk carpet (detail), Sothebys, NY,May 18, 1985, lot 75, also HALI, 1985 Vol. 7, no. 3, p. 78		Figure 5. Ersari carpet (detail), Private Collection, UK

At first sight, the relatively coarse weave of the Berlin fragment with 29 knts per cm in the horizontal direction and 43 per dm in the vertical (ca. 1200 knots/sq. dm) is much more characteristic of Ersari main carpets than of Saryk in which the knot count generally ranges upwards of 1800 knots/sq. dm. However early

Saryk carpets of the Amu Darya type tend to be less finely woven and at least one example, a well known carpet with the temirjin gol in an Austrian collectio, has a comparable knot count of 30h x 47v per dm (ca. 1400 knot/sq. dm).

Figure 4. Ersari carpet 2.04 x 2.08m Private Collection, Germany. After Loges, Turkoman Tribal Rugs, 1980, plate 80

Thus, only one feature in the construction of the Berlin carpet offers clear guidance. Attribution to the Saryk is strongly supported by the fact that the carpet is woven in the symmetric (Gordes) knot. As far as I am aware, all main carpets

attributable to the Saryk, for which the structure has been recorded, have the symmetric and all those woven by the Ersari the asymmetric knot.

Saryk Main Carpet Fragment, 18-19th century, 1.61m x 2.32m

To hang a Saryk label on the Berlin carpet on the basis of a single distinguishing feature is hardly satisfactory, but it is the best available in the context of the incomplete jigsaw to which we liken our knowledge of the history of early Turkmen carpets. At the same time, the many features in which the Berlin carpet

closely resembles a type of Ersari carpet, help to confirm that the gulli gol, like the temirjin gol, was a primary carpet ornament in the middle Amu Darya region, where it was used not only by the Ersari but also by the Saryk before the latter moved westward to Merv in the early 19th century.

Copyright 1991, Robert Pinner Reproduced here with permission from Robert Pinner. With thanks to Jens Kröger for permission to reproduce the image of the Saryk carpet fragment from Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Museum für Islamische Kunst

ترکمن های جوانمرد و وفادار در دوران گذشته

The Tribal Gol in Turkmen Carpets

by V.G. Moshkova

Adapted from Turkoman Studies 1


Reproduced here with permission by
Humanities Press/Oguz Press,Michael Franses & Robert Pinner

FOREWORD

by Tom Cole

I have discovered through working on re-creating this article and the reaction of the few who previewed it for typographical errors and aesthetics that many people with a real interest in Turkmen weavings have not thoroughly read Moshkova's text, myself included. Skimming the text and picking up on some of her theories is different from actually reading it, word for word. I realize now that the colour illustrations accompanying this reproduction assist the casual reader a great deal.

Studying this text of Moshkova's observations and studies is not without interest, even at this late date. Some of her conclusions are obviously wrong, while others are of lasting value. Her live gol/dead gol theory is somewhat interesting but probably flawed. Her detailed examination of the ertmen gol and its degeneration is probably correct, though demeaning its appearance on torbas and trappings is, again, probably incorrect. Identifying the patterns seen on smaller bags and weavings as a means of the weavers' personal expression outside the codified strictures of tribal design and gols is obvious and undoubtedly correct. Moshkova's assertion that the kepse gol is seen only on Yomud bags of recent origin is apparently incorrect as well. While old examples of chuvals or torbas with this ornament are rare, they are not unknown. For all the errors and dated material presented here, her contribution to Turkmen rug studies is still with value, and, thus, presented here as it has never been seen before, fully illustrated in colour

The translation of Moshkova's original text in Russian is somewhat clumsy, but, for the most part, I have left it as it was originally published, with only minor changes, ie. 'Turkmen' instead of 'Turkoman', and 'Ashgabat' instead of 'Ashkabad'. More familiar terminology has been added in parentheses, ie. ukudj (okbosh) and osmulduk (asmalyk).

I hope this presentation will help those who are just now discovering an interest in Turkmen ethnography, culture and weavings, making the Turkmen aesthetic that much more accessible.

Nowadays it would be rare to meet a carpet specialist who is unfamiliar with the appearance of Turkmen carpets. The world-wide fame of these carpets is well deserved, not only for their exceptional artistic qualities but also for the charm of their simple rhythmic designs and composition and their unusually rich range of colour shades. The local inhabitants of Central Asia were, however, far from imagining the role which carpets and carpet products play and have played in the land of whose population produced them.

Carpet making in Turkmenia is true folk art. With few exceptions the entire older Turkmen population knew the art of knotting carpets. It is only when you have seen a Turkmen woman at her loom, watched her quick hands flying like birds over the weaving of her carpet, witnessed the perseverance and energy she brings to her work and the dynamic strength of the whole process, only then can you understand how superb a worker the Turkmen carpet maker is - the uncrowned queen of Turkmen folk arts.

Plate 1. "The wedding caravan which brought a rich bride from her parental home to her new life was always fitted out with numerous brightly woven decorations. The camel's neck were decked with woven collars; the leading camel was also adorned with a five-cornered rugs, the osmolduk (asmalyk), decorated with richly luxuriant tassels. " - Moshkova

With enormous care and love, and using a simple but unusually artistic pattern, the Turkmen woman made and decorated with her own hands even the most primitive items in everyday use. A knotted curtain, the ensi, was hung at the outer entrance of the yurt, to protect against the burning rays of the sun, against the cold and the dust afghan which intruded everywhere; a small rugs, the germech, lay across the threshold. Decorative woven strips, yolami and boi, strengthened the wooden frames of the hut, and encircled on the outside, its roofing, enlivening the cheerless grey tone. The earthen floor of the hut was softly covered with patterned koshma, double-sided woven carpets, and carpets called khali; the family gathered round the hearth and chance guests sat on the woven odzhak bask and dip khali.

Household utensils and all domestic goods and shattels were kept in woven torba and chuval suspended from the latticed walls of the hut. Small loads taken on journeys were placed into double-bags, khordjin, which were thrown over the saddle; the horses of the Akhal Tekke and Yomut tribesmen were covered with woven saddlecloths, taynakcha, and embroidered horse and saddlecloths, cherlik. Even the donkey received its share of attention from the carpet makers: woven donkey saddle-girths are not unusual in Turkmenia. Especially useful during the journeys and at the stopping places were the diz-torba, knotted bags in which salt was carried; there were bags for mirrors, a rare possession, aina kap; for spoons, chemche-torba; spindles, iksilik; and so on.

Plate 2. Assorted weavings of the Yomud that do not adhere to the strict design format dictated by tribal tradition, but rather were left to the individual whim of the weaver. Included in this were knee covers (a) for the camel in the wedding procession, utilitarian weavings such as a spindle bag or knife sheath (b), the 'okbosh' (c). a gun cover or scabbord (d) and chanteh (personal bag (e)..

The wedding caravan which brought a rich bride from her parental home to her new life was always fitted out with numerous brightly woven decorations (Plate 1). The camel's neck were decked with woven collars; the leading camel was also adorned with a five-cornered rugs, the osmolduk (asmalyk), decorated with richly luxuriant tassels. Another small rug, the khalyk, was placed on the camel's chest and its long tassels almost reached to the animal's feet. These woven decorations harmonized beautifully with the bright embroidered cloths which were thrown over the neck and head of the camel. Special splendour was added to the wedding procession by the bundles uk (roofing poles) for the wedding yurt. Interwoven with woolen braid, these uk swayed to and fro in woven festive containers, ukudj, reminiscent of huge warriors' quivers of arrows (okbosh).

Along with all these decorative items, the young wife brought to her new family home her dowry: chuval, torba and, of course, carpets. Their quantity was strictly prescribed by custom. All these woven things were made with particular love and care; their high quality was regarded as evidence of the maturity of the young girl, and brought honour to the mother who had taught her daughter a high standard of artistry and craftsmanship. On the arrival of the young girl into her new home all the woven goods were hung in the yurt, special prominence being given to the khalyk which had adorned the chest of the wedding camel and now hung over the entrance. As time passed this khalyk became a special decoration, a kind of lambrequin on the door, the kapunuk. How could the Turkmen not make the most beautiful carpets in the world, when their first steps in childhood were taken in a child's rug, the salatchak, and the departed were mourned and taken on their journey in a funeral carpet, the ayatlik? (Footnote 1)

Plate 3 a., b., c. "... it has been possible to establish a whole category of 'religious' designs, recreated quite clearly by carpet makers throughout Turkmenia, to which a religious-magical meaning is ascribed."

Plate 3 d. Detail of a fantastic kapunuk with a variety of tertiary devices on the white ground consisting of amulets or fertility symbols. Elena Tsareva has speculated that the triangular forms with prongs extending downward symbolise clouds shedding rain nourishing the earth. Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg

Turkmen carpet are, so closely bound to the life of the people, is not only a most valuable memorial to their creative skill. It is also a rich source for the study of their ethnography and history. A compartive study of the individual ornaments enables us to trace the changes which took place over the years and to discuss their historical development. Alongside some obviously new carpet patterns (sometimes borrowed from other cultures) are very ancient designs which have survived of their specific significance. If one recalls that in the past, as now, the decorative art of the Turkmenia was in the hands of women, the preservers of the old traditions, and was always most closely linked with the narrow domestic circle, then it is not surprising that one finds in the carpets features of great antiquity.

The presence of all these living elements in the Turkoman carpet creates a genuine desire in the researcher to discover what the carpets can tell us of the complex history of the people. In the researcher's attempts to discover the meaning of individual carpet designs and composition, the most useful information - apart from that gained by the comparative study of the carpets - is that which is obtained from the carpet makers themselves. Experience has shown that material of this kind, carefully checked many times and thoroughly evaluated, can help us to discover the original content of some of the ornamental complexity in Turkmen carpets.

Plate 4. " In a central position in the ensi is a design called 'trace of the puppy' kuchukizi, an image of a dog as a sacred animal in the lives of the Turkmen. Also in the ensi is the pattern mihrab which clearly has a protective meaning." - Moshkova

By this technique it has been possible to establish a whole category of 'religious' designs, recreated quite clearly by carpet makers throughout Turkmenia, to which a religious-magical meaning is ascribed. An example is the design which bears the name gul-aidi (Plate 3 A). This always appeared on funeral carpets, double-sided rugs and children's rugs. The design dagdan, illustrating an amulet famous in Turkmenia, has the same meaning (Plate 3 B). The extent to which this representation remains alive can be judged from the fact that it is found on almost every carpet made today. It is inserted at the very beginning of the carpet on the first ornamental border. Many patterns of this kind appear on the ensi (door hanging) which undoubtedly belong to the group of archaic carpets which conceal many unexplained features. In a central position in the ensi is a design called 'trace of the puppy' kuchukizi, an image of a dog as a sacred animal in the lives of the Turkmen (Plate 3 C). Also in the ensi is the pattern mihrab which clearly has a protective meaning .(Plate 4)

We can see how the silent patterns of the carpet come to life if examined from the view of the people who made them. Even now the Turkmen, especially the women, understand clearly the tribal origin of carpet ornamentation. Each tribe has its own particular stock of carpet patterns. These concepts of the tribal origins of carpet patterns and composition have been taken up more or less correctly by European researchers who are interested in Turkmen carpets, and have found their way in to the typological classification of carpets in the literature which distinguishes between Tekke, Pende (Salor), Yomut carpets and others. The carpet ornamentation of the Turkmen represents a single stylistic group, despite local and tribal differences.

Plate 5a. An example of Ersari weaving (detail from the border of a fragmented main carpet) depicting a very Persianate form of the ubiquitous boteh design. It is only the curvilinear lines of the boteh which suggest a Persian influence. Actually, this image is very realistic given the bird-like appearance of the boteh, complete with a distinctly beaked head looking back over the shoulder, a classic image seen in ancient textiles and weaving from ancient Inner Asia. Ersari Carpet (fragment), 18th century, Private Collection, USA

Plate 5b. Below, another example of Ersari weaving exhibiting a pattern thought to be derived from silk ikat weaving. Given the association with Bokhara, it is not surprising to see the Ersari women weaving patterns that have nothing to do with the traditional design pool of the Turkmen. 19th century, Private Collection

Moreover, even a rapid glance at the carpet designs of modern Turkmen tribes, including those which have their own very pronounced tribal features, shows the many common elements. This is not always a simple case of one tribe borrowing a design from another; on the contrary, the designs show us the traces of tribal groups which are now separate or, sometimes, of the merging of groups which were once separate tribes. Similar motifs of this kind can be found in the designs of the Tekke, Yomut, Ensari and Saryk tribes, all of which, as we know from history, are linked by a common origin. Among all the shared features which bear witness to the common culture of the Turkman carpet, tribal differences in modern carpets stand out sharply. Tribal ornamentation is most

distinctly represented in those Turkmen tribes which have most strongly preserved their own integrity, tradition and territory. Among these must be included be included such groups as the Merv and Akhal Tekke, and the Yomut. The greatest loss of tribal patterns and the intrusion of foreign elements took place among those tribes whose tribal organization disintegrated. For example, the Ersari, who lived for 300 years near Bukhara under the immediate rule of the Buhkara khanate, lost their tribal traditions to a significant degree. In Ersari carpet ornaments more than in those of any other tribe, we can feel the diffusion of the many alien elements to which they were exposed. (Plate 5 a, b) The same can be said about the Chodor.

A Turkmen woman spinning wool, Central Asia. Photograph by SM Dudin, circa 1902

The Chodor, well known as amongst the most ancient of Turkmen, were mentioned in the lists of the old Oghuz tribes of Makmud' Kashgarski and Rashi-al-Din. A study of the ornaments used by the Chodor is therefore of special interest. When the Chodor settled in the Khiva khanate surrounded by many other tribes, they lost to a significant degree the individual features of their tribal organization, and the tribal connection to those Chodor who had settled in different territories. Mixed marriages, even with non-Turkmen (Kazakh) took place among the Chodor more than among any other tribe of Turkmenia.

For the Turkmen, this was exceptional, even in the recent past, since up to the present day, they have maintained strong marriage traditions within the bounds of their own large tribes. During the period of subjugation to the Khiva khanate, particularly after the last invasion by Russia, the Chodor became strongly involved in the trade of the area. It was the Chodor tribe who introduced carpets to the markets of the Khiva and sometimes the Bukhara khanates. This was reflected in their own carpet ornamentation.

Plate 6. An example of the 'dyrnak gol' of the Yomud groups as seen on main carpets

The original Chodor ornament, called ertmen, became deformed in a short time, within some 20-30 years (Plate 26, 29). Moreover the Chodor also adopted a series of patterns from neighbouring tribes, such as the Arabatchi, and used them in a new way: this new pattern has the appearance of a medallion filled with the letter "H" (see, Plate 8 caption for clarification & corrections). Widely known in Central Asia, this ornament can be seen in the ornament can be seem in the carpets of literally all chaykharakh. Over these years the Chodor's own original pattern, the ertmen, ceased to be used, and was preserved only in old, small pieces.

Thus Chodor ornaments underwent great changes and took on many new elements. In determining which ornaments were borrowed from one tribe or another, the names, which were oftern preserved, help to indicate the place or tribe of origin. Thus there are designs passed to the Yomut from the Tekke tribe, called by the former Tekke "naksha" (i.e. Tekke pattern). The name mar-gol denotes a Merv design used by the Kizil Ayak tribe, who borrowed this pattern from the Merv Saryk or Salor. The Ersari have a pattern called kharatiy derived from Herat. There are a great number of similar examples of this kind: in the stock of designs of nearly every tribe there are ornaments whose names indicate their origin.

Plate 7a. (above) The Yomud 'kepse' gol, detail of a very old main carpet, 18th century, Private Collection

Plate 7b. (below) An old Yomud group chuval with the rare depiction of the kepse gol design, seemingly contradicting Moshkova's theory that this gol appears in only late bags and trappings While certainly not as old as the rug featured above, it is old, probaly circa 1860 or so, a solid 3rd quarter of the 19th century piece. Though not of the early classical period, I still think it may be presumptuous to call its appearance in bags such as the one pictured below as 'late' and removed from the tradition..

The prayer rugs, bags (torba) and the many other small items in everyday use are the pieces that show best those elements that are foreign and those that were created by that tribe. This is demonstrated by the large variety of ornaments seen on pieces made by the different tribes. Evidently it was making these small pieces that the Turkmen woman felt free to use her powers of invention and was least bound by tribal custom (Plate 2 ).

It is clear that the stock of designs employed in Turkmen carpet are is very complex and can be analyzed only by painstaking study. It needs careful comparison of the individual ornaments used by the different groups of Turkmen tribes on the basis of the ethnographical and historical materials we posses and on the way of life, the relationships and the places of settlement of each tribe.

Plate 8. The Arabatchi "tauk nauska" gol (above). Though Moshkova claims the 'H' form of this motif without the suggestion of animal heads to be old, we know now that it is a later version of this older form. A Chodor version of this gol is seen below with a very colourful palette suggesting real age, circa 1850 or before. Interestingly, the minor gol is one associated with the Yomud, the 'erre' gol, more familiar when seen on Yomud chuvals, but seldom used on main carpets of either the Yomud or Chodor. To associate this gol type with any particular Turkmen tribe is dangerous and possibly erroneous. It has been used by more than one tribe dating to antiquity, including the Arabatchi, Chodor and Yomud as well as by non-Turkmen Central Asian weavers including those of the Uzbek, Karakalpak and Kighiz tribes. The 'tauk nauska' device is also incorporated into the original primary gol distinguishing Salor main carpets (Plate 9 c). Possibly, Moshkova had not seen a Salor main carpet with this gol at the time she offered her commentary.

It has already been shown that among the carpet ornaments of each tribe, with the newer elements, sometimes recently borrowed, there is a stock of very stable forms. Such changes as these ornaments have undergone over the years, have taken place slowly, without altering the general composition or the main design elements. The more stable ornamental forms appear mainly in the patterns placed in the central area of the main floor carpets and are considered the basic tribal patterns, a fact which is borne out in many cases by their names: amongst those we know are the Tekke gol, the Saryk gol, the kepse gol (Plate 7) and the dyrnak gol (Plate 6). The last two are believed to be the basic tribal patterns of the Yomut. Among the Ersari tribe that gulli-gol and the temirdzhin (temirchen) gol are well known in the form of several variants (Plates 10 & 11). The Arabatshi tribe regard the tauk-nuska as their tribal pattern (Plate 8).

Examination has shown that all the Turkmen tribes who engage in carpet making and who have preserved their tribal traditions to some degree have their own tribal gol, which appear most frequently on large carpets. The tribes who lost their independence, by settling in separate groups among other tribes, while remaining carpet makers, lost their tribal gol. Examples of this are the Ikdir (Igdyr) and Imreli tribes who use Yomut patterns, since they live in the immediate neighborhood of the Yomut and in the past were dependent on them. In the same way the Ali-Eli people, who live among the Tekke tribe, use Tekke designs, as do the Nukhurli who in the past were also dependent on the Tekke tribe, living in the Nukjur settlement near Bakharden.

Plate 9a. (Above) The classic 'chuval' gol of the Salor used on these large bags with majenta silk. Possibly early 19th century. Silk used in such profusion is seldom seen in 18th century Turkmen weaving.

Plate 9b.(Below) Another Salor gol seen on chuvals and one appropriated by the Saryk and used extensively on their own carpets and bags in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Details, Dudin Collection, Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg.

Plate 9c. (Below) The Salor gol seen on the main carpets of this tribe. Note the tauk nauska elements in the center of the gol, and the floral motifs incorporated, similar to the Ersari 'gulli-gol' seen in Plate 10. Ex-Robert & Lesley Pinner Collection, 18th century Obviously this gol was never reproduced on chuvals by any tribe upon their defeat by the Tekke (circa 1842). Moshkova's reference to the appropriation of the Salor gol by other tribes includes the two gols seen above (Plates 9 a, & 9 b). Late Saryk weavings, both carpets and chuvals, from Pendeh and Afghanistan reveal the use of these gols, but the gol of the Salor main carpets has not been regularly used in this form by any other tribe.

The indications are that when a tribal lost its independence it was deprived of the right or the ability to produce its own design and that the use of the gol of the dominant tribe was then a symbol of subjugation to that tribe. Particularly significant in this respect are the so-called Evlyad tribes (Shikh, Makhtum, etc.), who lives as 'holy' tribes among various Turkmen groups : they are often excellent carpet weavers and they invariably use the tribal designs of the group which shows them hospitality. The stability of the gol is explained by the fact that they very clearly reflect the emblems of their tribe. Probably their use was at some time strictly regulated, and later became a long-lasting tradition. The examination of this gol is the main theme of this article.

The gol must not be confused with the similar sounding term 'gul' or 'gul'cha'. To the Turkmen carpet weaver, they are very different. 'Gul' means flower, 'gul'cha' little flower, a certain shape of pattern which in outline resembles a flower. The term 'gol' can be applied only to the tribal ornaments placed in the centre field of the carpet, less often on other pieces. There is no satisfactory translation of the word, 'gol'. The interpretation of the Salor gol as the Salor 'rose for example must be rejected. The carpet weavers themselves understand the term gol simply as design or pattern. (Footnote 2) For want of a more satisfactory interpretation we consider the carpet gol in the sense of a tribal ornament or pattern, perhaps an emblem, and we must try to reveal its pictorial form.

Plate 10. The "gulli-gol" of the Ersari, seen exclusively on the main carpets of this Turkmen group.

When we regard the gol as the emblem of the Turkmen tribes and of the peoples who over the centuries grew, lived and died, we would expect to find a reflection of the living process in the carpet designs themselves. Our observations have led us to the conclusion that within the large variety of Turkmen medallion designs we can indeed find 'live' gol and 'dead' gol. The live gol are the gol of those Turkmen tribes, which in the recent past had not lost their importance and among these can be numbered, the Ersari, Yomut, Saryk and Tekke tribes, all of which have preserved their tribal gol. These gol persist in the shape of the basic field ornament of the main floor carpet; the principle carpet

displayed by the Turkmen. Probably the fact that the main carpet had this important display function explains why it is here that the gol of the living active tribes is preserved. In the past this gol appears to have been used on no other piece. This tradition of the tribal gol has been preserved in the Tekke tribe: until the recent past the Tekke gol has not been found on any article in everyday use except the main carpet and, according to all the Tekke carpet weavers, the great tribal gol of the Tekke tribe was strictly reserved for this carpet (Plate 22). The Ersari tribe has the same tradition: the Ersari tribal gol are never found on small piece but only on main carpets (Plate 10).

Plate 11. The "temirchin" gol of the Saryk, an interesting gol that Tsareva identifies an element of with fish. Curiously Moshkova identfies it as an Ersari ornament. 18th century, Private Collection, USA

However there are also cases where gol from large carpets are transferred on to the small items. The Yomud kepse gol (Plate 7) and dyrnak gol (Plate 6), for examples, can be found on bags of recent manufacture, although they are not shown on old bags. Nor, as we have indicated, has the Chodor tribal ornament, the ertmen appeared on carpets for along time: it has been replaced by the lighter tauk nuska gol borrowed by the Chodor tribe from the Arabatshi tribe (see caption, Plate 8). The ertmen was transferred entirely to small items, chuval and torba, but although it has been widely used on such items, the carpet weavers still consider it as the Chodor tribal 'gol'.

In the same way the famous Salor gol was transferred to chuval. The Salor gol lost its significance as a tribal ornament when the tribe, having suffered defeat from the the Tekke and Saryk at the end of the 19th century, ceased making carpets altogether. At this time, the famous Salor gol was taken over by the Saryk and reproduced by them in modernized form on chuval (Plate 9 b, 12), still however, preserving the old name Salor gol. The reproduction of the Salor gol on carpets of the Saryk and Merv Tekke occurred in the colonial period, and must be seen as Russian influence, since Russian custromers created the demand for carpets of this design.

Plate 12. The chuval gol as it is seen in the weavings of the Saryk. This gol is apparnetly derivative of the Salor chuval gol (Plate 9 a) according to Moshkova, appropriated subsequent to the defeat of the Salor in the 1840s. Though Saryk chuvals are rare, I believe one may encounter early chuvals using this or a form of this gol type. On the other hand, the appearance and use of the gol seen in Plate 9 b corresponds closely with this time frame and may be the supporting evidence for Moshkovaa's theory regarding ornaments of rugs being "taken over by the victors, to be used as models for reproduction of patterns.".

The observations lead us to conclude that in the ornamentation of chuvals we can find today representations of those gol which gradually lost their tribal importance. Here we approach the group of gol which can be called 'dead gol'. From the example, of the Salor we see that, following the defeat of the tribal group and the loss of opportunity to engage in the art of carpet weaving, the stock of carpet ornaments didn't disappear, but was taken up by the conquerors and used by them in their own carpet products . It is easy to establish the route which this took. Shortly after the carpets and carpet

products of the defeated tribe had been destroyed, the ornaments were taken over by the victors, to be used as models for reproduction of patterns. It is true that, in the case of the Salor, the special relationship of this tribe could have had special significance: as we know, they were considered to be the most noble and aristocratic tribe, a status inherited from their ecenomic position in Turkmenia over the centuries. To this day, the Salor are regarded as the fathers of Turkmen carpet weaving and it is not surprising therefore that their stock of carpet designs was so widely adopted and used by their conquerors, the Saryk, and the Tekke of Merv. (ie. Plate 9 b)

Plate 13. Though Moshkova describes this 'chuval gol' form to be a distinctly Yomud attribute, she is mistaken. The gol she refers to is seen below in Plate 14 is, among others, used by the Kizil Ayak as well as the Yomud. I believe it may have degenerated from the gols we see above, a detail of a very old and fine Tekke chuval.

In any case, we have here an example of the transference of tribal ornament from a carpet to a chuval. A similar example can be seen among the Chodor who, under the influence of the growing trade in carpets, stopped reproducing the ertmen on their main carpets. However they preserved the ertmen when it had lost its significance as a tribal ornament, on torba and chuval. A similar phenomenon took place among the Saryk, who at the beginning fo the 20th century employed their tribal patterns widely on chuval. In consequence, dead gol, those which had lost their signifi- cance as tribal ornaments, were preserved on small items of carpet-ware and over the years began to be used as simple ornamental motifs. Another good illustration of this can be seen in the comparison of the tribal gol of the Salor group of Turkmen.

Although the largest tribal groups of modern Turkmenia, the Tekke, Saryk Ersari, and Yomud, are now widely dispersed from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the banks fo the Amu-Darya, it is known from historical sources that in the 16th century they formed one tribal group, known as the 'outer Salor' with the original Salor tribe as its head. This group inhabited a comparatively small area on the eastern shore of the Caspian. After the disintegration of the Salor union, the tribes which had belonged to it dispersed throughout Turkmenia. For the small individual groups of the former times, the Tekke, Yomut and Saryk, this period of resettlement was highly important, each grew into a large tribal union and during this time the 17th to 19th centuries, all three began to play an increasingly important political role in the history of Turkmenia.

Plate 14. A gol, as seen on a Kizil Ayak chuval (right), that corresponds to the gol cited in Moshkova's theory of an ornament that is no longer recognized with any meaning, and used for strictly decorative purposes. For some reason, Moshkova, in her text, assoicated this gol (diagram, left) soley with the Yomud.

In their carpet ornamentation each tribe took its own path, forming a separate group, each with its own identity, although maintaining a common Turkmen style in colour, geometrical character of the design, and some ornamental details. Moreover, it the carpets of each of these tribes were preserved the basic designs, shapes and ornaments in which we are still able to see a common source; a form of tribal gol which these tribal groups evidently shared at the time when they lived together by the Caspian Sea as one tribal group. We have discussed above the tribal gol of the Tekke and Ersari tribes both of which have been used to present day on the main

carpets of these tribes. The Yomut gol of the same character was preserved on chuval and was very widely used in this form; a Saryk ornament of a similar kind was reproduced in the recent past on large carpets and to the present day can be found on chuval (Plate 9 b). Even a passing glance at these ornaments is sufficient to see in them the elements which testify to their common origins. This undoubted similarity serves to illustrate how the historical connection (in this case, the common origin of this group of Turkmen tribes) found its expression in the tribal gol

Plate 15. An 'eagle group' kapnuk from the National Museum, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. 3'8" x 1'7". Curiously, Moshkova identifies it as a 'khalyk', probably due to the fact it has only two "arms" rather than three, a more commonn feature of Yomud group kapunuks that are later than this example. See Turkoman Studies 1 for an overview of Yomud kapunuk.

However there is more to be learned from the examples we have shown. It is apparent that both the Saryk and especially the Yomud gol can be included in the group of deal gol, since they are no longer recognized by the carpet makers as tribal ornaments and are used simply for decoration. The old Yomut gol, used today exclusively in the field of chuvals, now bears the name chuval gul and not gol, and is used here along with other purely ornamental patterns (Plate 14, see caption). The conclusion lies near that old gol, now out of use, which belonged to tribes that have disappeared from the historical scene, can be found preserved in the small items among the carpet products of Turkmenia. It is not improbable that among the present rich stock of designs of Turkmen medallion

patterns, gol have been preserved in altered form which once belonged to tribes as the Ikdir (Igdyr) which having lost their importance as independent tribes, began to use the gols of foreign tribes. The tribal patterns of the old Turkmen tribes which played a leading political role in Turkmenia, Iran and Asia Minor in the 11th to 14th centuries, may not have disappeared without a trace. In the Turkmen territory, the tribal gol of these old Turkmen and Oghuz tribes have come down to us as the gol of the Salor (Plate 9 c) and the Yomut. The Ikdir (Igdyr), another ancient group, included among the old Oghuz tribes, have lost their tribal gol. In all probability one must seek in the carpets of Asia Minor the gol which have disappeared since, from the 11th century onward, the Oghuz tribes moved into Asia Minor and into Iran

Plate 16. Though Moshkova claims the classic ashik form seen in some asmalyks is a later feature, I believe she is mistaken. This seven sided asmalyk (above) is quite old, certainly contemporaneous with other weavings exhibiting the more "archaic' pattern seen in the lattice designed example directly below, though probably not quite as old as this paritcular one.

Plae 17. A very old examle of the Yomud asmalyk with a more archaic field pattern. Private Collection, USA

The examples we have cited of tribal gol transferred to the smaller carpet products cause us to look closely at the designs of these items, since they often preserve versions of tribal gol in their more archaic form. In this respect, important material can be found in the ornamentation of the piled wedding decorations of the Turkmen, which have now been preserved only by the Yomut in their so-called osmolduk (asmalyk). This is the well known five cornered rug which hung at the sides of the wedding camel which bore the bride. Modern osmolduk, made this century during the colonoal period, were frequently decorated with the ashik design which filled the central field of

the osmolduk. In the two or three osmolduk of fthe early 19th, perhaps even of the late 18th, century which are preserved in the museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the ashik design has a more archaic form. It has the appearance of a coloured rosette with white ziz-zags, rhomboid in shape and in the centre of each is the representation of a bird, sometimes with an animal, treated quite realistically.(Plate 17, Footnote 3) The similarity in composition of similar articles and the preservation of several elements of the design during its transformation into a simplified geometric pattern, leaves no doubt that the ashik design is a later version of an old ornament in the form of a bird (see caption, Plate 16).

Plate 18. 'Khalyk', Tekke tribe, 19th century, Private Collection, Germany. An extraordinary example of the khalyk, complete with tassels as well as decorated with an unusual design.

Plate 19. Detail image of a very old khalyk in the National Museum, Ashgabat. In my experience, the ornamentation seen here for weavings of this function is unique.

Another knotted wedding decoration was the khalyk - a rug which hung from the chest of the animal in the shape of rectangle (in old pieces it was five sided) with two sections hanging down the sides and finishing in a twisted fringe (Plate 18). Khalyk have gone out of use today, as have all the knotted wedding decorations. However in some tribes, for example among the Saryk, the so called 'kapunuk' was preserved into the recent past as a special decoration for the yurt door (Plate 15). The ancestor of the kapunuk was probably the khalyk.

Very few khalyk have survived to the present day The khalyk known to the author are literally only those pieces preserved in the museums of Central Asia. The design of one of these khalyk is all the more interesting in that it consists of an octagonal medallion with the form of a bird (Plate 15). The colour scheme of this piece, the treatment of the border and tweaving technique leave no doubt that this khalyk is of Turkmen origin (curiously, Moshkova refers to it as a khalyk when it is undoubtedly a kapunuk, Footnote 4).

Plate 20 a, b. Details of two asmalyks from the Dudin Collection in the Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg. Note the two different types of drawing, the upper photos with a running bird flanked by dogs, while in the example below, the bird is apparently standing. In both, these birds are seen bearing something on their backs. Birds, in traditional Central Asian/Inner Asian mythology bear souls from one world to the next. Interestingly, all these birds depicted bear something on their backs as are those birds seen in Anatolian rugs..

The fact that the bird design is found in Turkmen wedding decorations is of interest. Even during the 19th century, Yomut weddings were marked by the inclusion of a tribal ornament into the knotted wedding decorations of the girl who married into another tribe. Yet, in not one of the wedding carpet pieces of the Yomut that has survived do we find the reproduction of a known Yomut tribal ornament, neither old nor new. The reason for this is hidden in the nature of the marriage tradition among the Turkmen in general and of the Yomut in particular. Those Turkmen groups, which Euriopean researchers call tribes (Yomut, Tekke, etc.), the Turkmen themselves and the historical sources commonly call peoples 'khalk'. Until recently, marriages among the Turkmen were always confined with this khalk, (ie. Tekke women married Tekke men and Ersari married

only within their own group). The Turkmen regard the the 'khalk' as a 'people' and those sub-divisions of the 'khalk' which European reserarchers now call 'families' are the tribal groups. Turkmen marriages then take place between different tribal groups within the larger unit. There has been very little research into this matter and marriage relationships in Turkmenia are still unclear. Nevertheless the work on this subject by Prof. Preobrazhensky on the northern Yomut leaves no doubt that although marriages between individuals of different groups within the 'khalk' used to be the custom, the rule has been broken with increasing frequency in recent times. Nowadays, only one rule applies, that marriages take place within the 'khalk'. For a long time, however, marriages have taken place with close family groups.

Plate 21. Bird forms seen on an asmalyk attributed to the Arabatchi, Russian Ethnogrpahic Musuem, St. Petersburg.

In the light of the information given about marriages among members of the Yomut tribe, we can begin to understand the absence of the known tribal gols, old or new, from their wedding decorations. It would clearly be wrong to try to find Yomut tribal gol in khalyk which belong to the 'khalk'. On the contrary , in wedding decorations, only the gol of the smaller family subdivisions were used. Later, because of the intermingling of marriage groups within the Yomut 'people', the smaller groups lost their significance; the reproduction of the gol became simply a tradition. Thus these ornaments, medallion with the forms of birds and animals which were used in ancient Tukrmen wedding

decorations, must be seen in the light of ethnographical study as gol of one or other of the Yomut family subdivisions. They represent an ornament preserved in the most archaic form, in which the realistic illustration of birds and animals was often used in the composition. We can try to confirm the hyposthesis that the realistc drawing preserve features of ancient tribal gol by comparing them with more recent gol which may contain elements of the earlier forms.

Plate 22. a) Kush - bird, b).Dunguz Burun - pig's snout, c).Chakkan - one who bites (scorpion?), d). Kovacha - cotton ball

e) Detail image of the primary gol from a Tekke main carpet, mid 19th century, Private Collection, USA

In our analysis, we consider the gol belonging to the Salor union to be the most important and their content is at least in part revealed from what we have learned about the Tekke gol. The individual elements of the Tekke gol have been named by the carpet weavers as (a) kush - bird, (b) Dunguz burun - pig snout, (c) chakkan - one who bites or stings, and (d) kovacha - cotton ball (Plate 22). From this list it is clear that the basic elements of the Tekke gol take the form of a central plant motif with birds or animals at the sides. In the more recent version of the Tekke gol, these birds

look more like elements of a plant than of an animal. In the Ersari gol, these patterns clearly have the shape of a trefoil, and are called 'gul' or flower, thus losing any connections with the original form (Plate 10). Here the Saryk gol (Plate 12), which has survived in the fragment of an old carpet is of interest. The gol has only one bird illustration and it is particularly valuable because it serves as an intermediate stage between the Tekke gol and the old Yomut gol, which has no 'birds', but has taken on the character of sharp geometirc angles. Although, we cannot yet discuss the history of the development of these motifs, it is useful to emphasize the presence of birds and animals as elements of all the gols in Turkmen carpets.

Plate 23. Similar to the Tekke gol, this example is seen on a very old chuval attributable to the Arabatchi tribe. Note the similarities as well as very minor differences in the design. This 'lobed' gol shape is thought to be older, more archaic. The relationship of the Arabatchi to the other Turkmen tribes is nebulous. Some have speculated they are a branch or sub-group of the Ersari. Moshkova seems to relate them to the Chodor but even the Chodor have proven to be an enigma, exhibiting a design pool somewhat different than that seen in weavings of other Turkmen tribes. This specific lobed gol form appears to very particular to the Arabatchi and it is difficult to determine which is "older", the Tekke or Arabatchi gol. What may be possible to say is that the 'kurbaghe' secondary gol may originally be an Arabatchi ornament from which, possibly, the Tekke variant might be derived. Private Collection

Plate 24 Arabatchi Chuval,.76m x 1.37, (4'6" x 2'6"), late 18th/early 19th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 22.100.40a, Gift of James F. Ballard

Interesting material also comes from the old tribal gol of the Chodor, the ertmen, an ornament which has not been sufficiently studied. It is not difficult to see that the figures within the gol are a combination of birds and plants.(Plate 26) The five leaved flower clearly has the head of a bird at the top, and a tail and feet at the bottom (Plate 27). Another important part of the ertmen are the three rhomboid zig-zag figures joined by a common stem. On two of these the outline of a bird with spread wings is clearly marked. The general composition represents a plant with two birds placed at either side facing each other. It is interesting that the Chodor have not been able to establish the names of these ertmen elements. This is probably explained by the fact that this is an old gol, which went out of use early and is

now rarely found. However, it contains the form of a bird, which even recently was not recongnized although its name was preserved elsewhere. In Chodor troba from the Amu-Darya, made not by those of the northern Tashauz, but by a group which settled between Daynau and Sayat at the end of the 18th century, we find a design which in pattern, general them and from the technical evidence is arguably the same ertmen, in an altered form. Here no trace of the bird remains, but instead there are only the rosettes of a flower. (Plate 26 c, Plate 29 a, c) Nevertheless, the whole composition of the Amu Darya Chodor is called kushly (birds).

Plate 25. The 'ertmen gol' of the Chodor as seen on a Chodor main carpet, 19th century, Private Collection, Germany

Plate 26. Diagrams from Moshkova, two of which retain the true form of the ertmen gol with birds ("kushli") on either side of the central tree.

Plate 27. A detail image of a Chodor trapping depicting the ertmen gol with birds flanking the central tree deivce. The birds are depicted with both tails and feet below the "five leaved flower".

Thus, when we compare the ornament of the Chodor of the north with those of the Amu Darya area, we conclude that the bird drawing found in the classical ertmen, testifies to the presence, at one time, of a realistic bird representation which gradually became simplified, took on new elements and changes its form to a floral rosette. In this sequence, the design of a Chodor chuval in the Museum of Arts in Ashgabat, can undoubtedly be taken as an intermediary link. This still contains elements of the bird, but these are no longer recognized by the carpet makers. Thus, the analysis of the ertmen shows that birds are an integral part of the composition in the family gol of the Chodor.

Now let us turn to the tribal ornament of the Arabtshi tribe, which is rlated to the Chodor tribe. The tauk noska is reproduced from a carpet in a private collection in Ashgabat, and, judging from the technical details of the border and the general composition is about 100 yeaers old. It one takes away the upper bird-like heads, this ornament resembles the letter 'H' and in this form it has been used widely both in the work of the Aratcshi themselves and of the Chodor (Platte 8) who borrowed this pattern and took it to the Amu Darya region. In Simakov's reproductions, an interesting carpet carries a gol of similar type (Simakov does not relate it to the Arabatshi), but of a more archaic form with two birds standing side by side without a horizontal cross piece.)

Plate 28. A later variant of the 'ertmen gol'. Still the birds are evident but clearly somewhat deformed from the earlier version seen above.

Plate 29. Line drawings from Moshkova showing the degeneration of the ertmen gol, with only the central diagram portraying some relevance to the original concept of incorporating bird motifs into the ornament.

Plate 30. An unusually simple and spacious treatment of the ertmen gol design which adheres to none of the line drawings supplied by Moshkova.

The place of origin of these carpets is the Denau region of Chardzju territoriy, where the Arabatshi group has most completely preserved its identity and here a large number of caprpets with this pattern in the form of the letter 'H' have survived. The Arabashi regard this gol as their own and call it tauk nuska (Plate 8), figure of a hen. Here again we have the form of a bird, clear both from the outline of the ornament in its more archaic form, and from its name.

The presence of bird, or bird and animal forms in four tribal gols of differeent Turkmen tribes provides us with sufficient evidence to relate these gols to the birds on the wedding osmolduk and to consider th latter a more archaic form of the gols. From all the material we have examined we can draw on conclusion: in the original composition of the tribal gols, birds sometimes together with animals and plants played an important part and their traces survived in more or less realistic form in the gols of Turkmenia today.

Plate 31. An interpretation of the 'ertmen gol' woven by an Ersari group in the Middle Amu Darya region of Central Asia.

The opportunity to draw on historical facts contribes greatly to the success fo this type of research. Data which supports our argument are found in the information about the Turkmen which were collectded by the 14th century author Rashid-al-Din. In his famous work, Djamiy-at-Taravrikh, which discussing the history of the Oghuz tribes, this author gives a detailed list of all the Oghuz tribes, with notes on the tamgha, which the tribes used to brand their stock, the names of the cuts of meat which the representatives of each tribe were given at the feasts and finally,the name of the ongon (totem) of each tribe. From this list it can be seen that the Oghuz tribes of that period were divided into six groups, which were associated by family, with four tribes in each, and to each of these groups was assigned the same piece of meat and the same totem.

The following tribal totems are of special interest to us: 1. The Kayn, Bayat, Alkyrevli and Kaaeveli tribes had as their totem the Tsar's white falcon. 2. The Yazyr, Dyker, Dudurga and Yaparli tribes had the eagle 3. The Avshar, Karik, Bedkili and Karkin tribes had the eagle carrying a hare. 4. The Bayundur, Bechene, Dzhaguldur, and Chjepin tribes had the gerflacon. 5. The Salor, Eimur, Ala, and Yuntli tribes had the uch (no translation) 6. The Ikder (Igdyr), Byukdyuz, Yive, and Kynyk tribes had the chakir (no translation)

Plate 31. An early painting from Herat (circa 1420), depicting a woman seated on a rug with the layout of the field bearing a similarity to that which we see in subsequent Turkmen weavings. Additionally, the archaic 'Kufic' border pattern seen in old Anatolian rugs is evident.

It is clear from the list that Oguhuz tribal groups had totem birds of the eagle family. The information set out by Rashid-al-Din allows us to conclude that the different bird forms in the tribal gol of the Turkmen were used deliberately and were not chance phenomena. Moreover, there is every reason to suppose that the primitive representations of birds, especially of the eagle family, on carpets reproduced in the paintings of 14th century artists, were the most ancient versions of the carpets of the Oghuz which carried tribal gol in the form of the totems of the tribes. We have in mind the following: 1 The carpet published by Willhel von Bode from the painting by Lippo Memmi, Portrait of Mthe Madonna, 1330-40, Berline Museum, Dahlem invl. 1072, (Plate 32 a)

2 The carpet reproduced by the same author from the painting by Nicolo di Buonacorso 'The Marriage of the Virgin', 1370s to 1380s (National Gallery, London, invl. 1109) showing an eagle like bird of unusually primitive form within an octagon. (Plate 32 b) (Footnote 5) To embark on an analysis fo these primitive versions of tribal gol is beyond the scope of this article. However it is striking that our conclusions, based on the historical and ethnographic material we have examined, is supported by the opinions of the researchers who attribute these 14th century carpets, with their primitive bird forms to Asia Minor which, by this period, had become the arena for the activities of the ancient Turkmen tribes.

Plate 32. a) Line drawing of the painting by Lippos Memmi, 1330-40, b) Line drawing of a painting by Nicolo di Buonacorso, 1370-80

FOOTNOTES

1. Ladyzhensky, visting western Turkmenia in the 1860s saw decomposing funeral carpets on Cheleken Turkmen graves. See: AS Berg, A History of Turkoman Research', Turkmenia, Vol. 1, 1929, p. 86

2. A term which became widely used after the TSSR filkkm production 'Salor Rose'. This inaccurate translation is due to the artist OF Mezgireva, who showed the knotting of carpet ornaments in one of hter paintings (Museum of Arts of the Trukin, Ashgabat)

3. The osmolduk were described in a work on Central Asian carpets by Fel'kerzam; they also attracted the attention of Gogel, a later researcher into Turkmen carpets.

4. This khalyk can be found in the National Museum, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

5. Wilhelm Von Bode, Vorderasiastische Knupfteppiche aus alter Zeit, Leipzig, 1914, p. 109

My thanks to Michael Franses, Robert Pinner and Humanities Press/Oguz Press for permission to reproduce the original text and line drawings which originally appeared in Turkmen Studies 1 (1980).

My thanks also to Elena Tsareva for permission to photograph some of the weavings from the Dudin Collection in the Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg during my visit in 2000 and my heartfelt gratitude to the women working in the bowels of the National Museum, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan for their gracious hospitality in allowing me to spend time with their collection in 2001.

I also wish to thank Seref Ozen (Cocoon, Istanbul) for going through his photo archive and offering additional images.

Dedicated to Robert Pinner

ترکمن ها ی جوانمرد و وفادار در دوران قدیم

The Turcoman Tribes (1882)

Report of Edmond O'Donovan
(Special Correspondent to the Daily News)

Migrations of Tribes

The Turcoman Tekke tribes of Merv has two tribes the Toktamish, on the eastern bank of the river , and the Otamish ,on the western. The Toktamish is the most numerous and also the senior tribe, but its precedence is purely honorary. Kouchid Khan ,who commanded the whole nation during its migration to Merv,and in the subsequent war with Persia was hereditary chief of the Toktamish. On his death ,his son Baba Khan succeeded to the headship of the Toktamish tribe only. His personal character was not sufficiently distinguished for the Turkomans to

continue his father's authority in him, and the Otamish Khan successful asserted a claim to equality. Kouchid Khan's mame is still potent among the people of Mery, and their new fortress bears his name. The Toktamish and Otamish tribes are subdivided into four sections, with sub chiefs over each, and still further into twenty-four yaps or clans. The following table will indicate at a glance the divisions and subdivisions of the Tekkes east and west of the Murgab.

1) Toktamish [east] .............................2) Otamish [west]

Vekil	Beg	Bakshih	Sitchmaz
Yazi Youssub Kara Kaksal Bukeri Ark Karadje Kalil	Amashe Gune Kowki Zereng Yegreh Bitli	Miris Sultan Aziz Zakur Burkoz Geok Ak Dasheyuk Kara Dasheyuk	Karatchmet Pereng Topaz Hadji Sufi Kou Sagur Aladja Guz

Other Turkomans bordering upon the Merv territory are classed as follows by the Merv Tekkes:

3) Yelkamish [south]

Yalatan Saruk Penj-deh Saruk

4) Salor 5) Ersari

6) Iliat

Mjaour Hodja Said

Ata Shekh Makdum

These names may have some philological value, so I have taken pains to ascertain them as accurately as possible. In Merv itself the distinction between the clans is kept up with the utmost formality. Personally I never could discover the difference between them, but the Turkomans had no difficulty in telling to what clan a man belonged at first sight, On asking once how to distinguish the wearers, a native pointed out that a peculiar way of knotting the sash and wearing the hat always indicated a member of the Sultan Aziz clan, a peculiar tie of the sword belt one of the Burkoz, and other minute points of the dress the members of the other clans. My eye could never be sufficiently trained to tell a man's clan at first sight by the cock of his hat, or the tie of his sash: but my Turcoman friends never erred in the matter, which is a somewhat important one in their society.

The present unhabitants of Merv are comparatively recent immigrants, and indeed the whole Turkoman population of these countries has been only a short time in its present seats. I endeavored during my stay in Merv to collect all the information I could on the history of these nomads, which is naturally very obscure, owing to the unsettled nature of their lives. One tribe succeeds another easily among the nomads, and the population of a district is often completely changed in the course of a few years and as there is no written history of these movements, it only by the utmost diligence in cross-examining the most intelligent natives, and then comparing their statements careful, that anything like an accurate notion of them can be formed, Like most uncivilized nations, the Turcomans can lay but little claim to accuracy in their stories of past events, and chronological exactness they pay scarcely; any attention to.

During the reign of Nadir Shah, who was himself of pure Turcoman blood, the whole of Turkestan as far as Bokhara and Khiva acknowledged his sovereignty. From an 18th century painting

However, I had frequent opportunities of consulting the most intelligent elders of Mery, many of who had taken an active part in the events of the last half-century, and remembered them vividly, while they also recollected clearly the traditions of older movements that had been handed down by their fathers. From all that I could learn thus, it appears that the country now occupied by the Mery and Akhal Tekkes was peopled a hundred and fifty years ago (from 1881)by a settled Turkish population of the same race as the present inhabitants of Bokhara. The name Turcoman is confined to the nomads, as distinct from the settled branches of the same race, who are styled Turks distinctly, in Central Asia. When used here the latter name is not to be confounded with the Osmanli Turks of Stambol, who parted from the parent stock several hundred years ago, and have been since separated from their kinsmen in Central Asia by the interposition of Persia.

During the reign of Nadir Shah, who was himself of pure Turcoman blood, the whole of Turkestan as far as Bokhara and Khiva acknowledged his sovereignty. The then Turkish population of Mery merely acknowledged his suzerainty by a tribute analogous to some of the old feudal tenures in Europe, I believe by the present of a nut or some fruit on stated occasions. On the death of Nadir, the Persian monarchy rapidly decayed. Afghanistan fell away, and the nomad Turcomans of Khiva poured into Persian Turkestan on the north-east, while Bokhara attacked it from another quarter. About a hundred and thirty years ago (counting from 1881), the Tekkes, the Saruk and the Salor Turcomans commenced their invasion. The Akhal Tekkes then got possession of the territory which they still occupy, though not with its exact present boundaries. In fact the war with Persia has been practically continuous since, and it is only within the last seventy years that Askabad was taken by the Akhal Tekkes.

'Yurts' near the vicinity of Merv, early 20th century. The permanent nature of these dwellings is not insignificant, as similar villages of such sedentary Turkmen was noted by O'Donovan in his book, "The Merv Oasis". Photograph, SM Dudin

Still, whatever variations the Persian boundaries may have undergone, the Akhal Tekkes have remained pretty steadily in the territory they seized on after Nadir Shah's death, and which has now past under Russian sway with its inhabitants. Their brethren, the present inhabitants of Merv, had a more chequered history, While the Akhal Tekkes were establishing themselves along the northeastern slopes of the Kopet Dag mountains, the former settled around the great swamps in which the Tejend is lost. The abundance of water no doubt made this appear at first almost desirable territory, but the unhealthy nature of the soil proved a serious drawback. Then the waters did not rise as usual, and for three years in succession there were severe droughts. The Tekkes consequently determined to abandon their abodes by the Tejend swamps, and about the year 1834 they moved into the Persian territory at Sarakhs. They held possession of Sarakhs and the adjoining territory, nearly as far

south as Seistan, for about twenty-one years, or until shortly after the accession of the present Shah of Persia. While the Tekkes were occupying the western part of Turkestan, other nomad tribes were pouring into the East of their settlements. These were the Ersari who settled and remained along the banks of the Oxus at and about Charjui, pronounced Charjow, and the Salors and Saruks, who pushed on to the Murgab. After their arrival there, Mery itself was destroyed, and its Turkish inhabitants almost exterminated by the power of Bokhara. The Bokharan conqueror , Begge Jan captured then the city of Merv, being third historical city that had existed under the name, after a prolonged resistance, and utterly destroyed it. Seven hundred thousand persons are said to have perished during the siege and subsequent slaughter, and though the numbers are doubtless exaggerated some. what, it is evident from the ruins that remain that a dense population must then have occupied the oasis, and have been utterly swept away.

An animal market scene outside Merv, early 20th century. Photographed by SM Dudin

The Bokharans did not occupy the conquered country, and the Salor and Saruk Turcomans found no resistance there when they moved their aladjaks close to the ruins of Merv. The fall of Merv took place nearly a century ago (from 1881), and from that time until the advent of the present Shah to the throne of Persia the Salors and Saruks remained in undisturbed possession of its territory. About twenty-six years ago,(from 1881) however, a general movement took place among the Turcoman tribes, The Persians attacked the Turcoman possessors of Sarakhs, and, after a vigorous campaign, compelled them to abandon their settlements. Seventy thousand houses are said to have been destroyed in this campaign. The dispossessed tribe in turn attacked their kindred tribe, the Saruks, and after several combats drove them out of Merv to positions further south on the Murgab, which they still occupy, at Yulatan and Penj-deh, higher up the river. The Tekkes were not left long in undisputed possession of the Merv oasis. The Persians, flushed with the success of their campaign against the Turcomans of Sarakhs, believed they could easily follow them to their new abodes, and bring Merv itself again under their sway.

The Saruks, who had been expelled from their settlements by the Tekkes made common cause with the Persians, and three years after the Tekke occupation of Merv the present Shah attempted the conquest of the oasis. But the fortune had changed. The Tekkes defended their new settlement with a vigour which appalled the Persians who expected an easy victory from their artillery over enemy whom they had already driven from their frontiers. Kouchid Khan managed the campaign against the Shah and his Turcoman allies with consummate energy. After a three months' harassing warfare in the desert, the allied army advanced close to Merv but only to he totally routed in a pitched battle there. The entire Persian train of thirty-six pieces of artillery fell into the hands of the nomads, and the routed army fled in utter confusion to Meshed. For weeks the victorious nomads were engaged in gathering the arms and other spoils thrown away by the flying troops of the Shah, and the captured Persian guns still ornament the ramparts of Merv. A number of officers of high rank were made prisoners, and had to be ransomed afterwards at enormous prices. Some of the ransoms were as high as six or seven thousand pounds. Others were left to die in captivity for want of means to meet the extortionate demands of their captors.

A late 19th/early 20th century photograph depicting an elder of the Tekke tribe, with a Russian miliatry medal on his chapan. It is unclear whether he earned it from the Russians or perhps it is captured booty.

The Saruks of Penj-deh still continue inveterate in their hostility to the present inhabitants of Merv but they are unable to gratify their feelings in any effectual way than by plundering raids, which the Merv Tekkes are not slow in reciprocating. Those of the Saruks who inhabit the districts nearest to Merv, which are irrigated by canals from the Bent-i-Yolatun, have partially given up their enmity towards their neighbors; but the clans higher up the river, towards the Afghan frontier, are still irreconciable with their foes. The Salors, whose settlements lie between the Saruks and Merv, have submitted absolutely to the latter, and are treated by the Merv Khans as subjects. These Salors, however, are but a small part of the Salor tribe, which is scattered all over Turkestan. Some of them are found among the Saruks close to Herat, and a still larger number among the Ersari,

the Salors in Merv only number seven hundred families, and are associated with the Otamish tribe of Tekkes. As for the Ersari Turcomans, their long separation from and other Tekkes has well-high obliterated any feeling about their common origin. They depend rather on Bokhara ,and frequently cross the desert to raid on the Merv Tekkes. In numbers they are by no means equal to the latter. A well-informed Turcoman, who had been much among them, estimated their numbers at seventy thousands. I have endeavored to give the history of the Tekkes, as I learned it from the older men among the tribes, but I do not pretend to vouch for its accuracy. In the absence of better evidence, it may be of some use in throwing light upon the vicissitudes of the tribes now inhabiting the almost terra incognita of Central Asia.

بهترین نقش های قالی ترکمن با اندازه واقعی

War Carpet Medallions

This is an unusual medallion both in design and that it is from a Baghlani rug which typically feature rows of weapons, not medallions

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This is from a most unusual rug featuring unusual medallions all strung together. It is noteworthy that the bright colors in this photo are silk.

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One style of medallion

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Persianate medallion. Beautiful medallion

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New fangled medallion in Turkmen rug, basically a very unusual red rug.

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Eight lobed Baluchi medallion. Probably a cloud motif, in the Chinese 'Cloudband' tradition.

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First example of geometric medallion. Excellent rug.

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""Checkered Field"" style medallion. Cruciform, nice colors.

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Template example of what warrug.com calls ""Small Floral Medallion"". This rug is best quality, and quality is reflected in drawing.

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Best quality Khal Mohamadi medallion.

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Minor medallion, very beautiful and rare.

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Cruciform center medallion in diamond herati style rug

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Eight lobe Baluchi medallion. Unusual features are light field and bright colors.

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Geometric medallions have solid edges, are usually light colored, and contain peacocks and flower motifs.

متنوع ترین طرح و نقش های فرش و گلیم ترکمنWar Carpet Borders turkmens

War Carpet Borders

This a not uncommon border design in Baluchi rugs. It lacks a main border, but rather features three quard strip width borders, again not uncommon in Baluchi rugs of all styles.

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Traditional Baluchi border, seen most often in Pixelated rugs and Speckled field rugs

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Very old border

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Mushwani border with repeated mosques.

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Tank border from Afghan Baluchi rug

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Beautiful classic border from good quality Afghan Baluchi rugs

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Traditional Turkmen border with bullet skirt.

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Al Kwaja border. Beshir Turkmen.

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Antique border design

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Old time border design on modern rug

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Wheeled APC border design on Ghazni red rug.

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Bullet border common on red rugs from the 1990s made in Pakistan

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Mushwani border design

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This border is also dates to at least the 19th century

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This border dates to at least the 19th century

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Mushwani border motif

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This border, while thin, employs good use of color.

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This is a not very interesting border design.

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Note inclusion of guard stripes on this very high quality rug, although border drawing jumpy.

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Zakini border, medium quality.

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Traditional sumac border with extra inner main border of beautifully rendered bombers.

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Stylized tank border

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Note glitch. This is a Turkmen design border, but colors and pattern are not typically Turkmen, so….

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The main, or center, border in this rug is typically Taimini. The white border and eight pointed stars are what make it Taimani.

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This photos shows a tree of life motif running inside the border one each side of the rug.

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Best type of border. Note grape vine main border, and two very special, and wide, guard stripes.

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Old style weapons border

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Asymmetrical, elaborate border, consistent with extremely good quality of this rug.

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Corner section of Bomber/Copter/Tank rug. Secondary designs, flowers, make this border particularly nice.

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Golden Border, note stylized helicopters, and checkerboard guard stripe.

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Butterfly plastic mine border seen on some rugs from Pakistan.

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Classic grape vine border

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Note fluorescent green and bleeding.

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Contemporary style border.

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Classic ""Golden Border"" with guns-up retreating tanks and super stylized helicopters.

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One group of rugs, featuring a particular wool and single cord wool overcast selvedges feature this border.

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Taimani single border.

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Same weaver as rug 29

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Distinct border from south central Afghanistan

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Equal thickness tripple border

WHO ARE THE TURKMEN - ترکمنرها چه کسانی هستند؟

WHO ARE THE TURKMEN?

The Turkmen are originally from the ancient Oguz Turkic tribes of Central Asia that migrated to different parts of the world, particulary Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Historians believe the first Turkmen settled in Iraq, then the southern part of Mesopotamia around 3500bc, where an ancient Sumerian civilization of Turkic tribes was located.The Turkmen have played a great role in Iraq’s and Iran’s history. Before the Islamic conquest in the early part of the seventh century, the Turkmen lived in densely populated settlements throughout Iraq. Badikli and Bankiya were the largest of these ancient communities. Located near the Euphrates River, they were administered by Baslukhan, a prominent Turkmen leader.Over the countries, the Turkmen established many dynasties and states in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and other countries. The Oguz tribes that converted to Islam became known as Turkmen. Having earned a great reputation as disciplined warriors, 2,000 Turkmen archers were recruited into the army of Ubaydullah Bin Ziad in the mid-seventh century in Basra in southern Iraq during the Ummayids (Ummawiyeen) era (AD 661-750). Hajjaj Bin Yousuf Al Thakafi, another Ummayids commander, had settled 25,000 Turkmen warriors in Badra in eastern Iraq to defend the borders of the country. The Turkmen also had a great role in Iraq military during the Abbasid era 9AD 750-12580. Thousands of Turkmen soldiers settled in the city of Sammara, which was built for the troops and their families.The largest number of Turkmen to move into Iraq occurred when the Seljuk army under the command of Sultan Turgul Bey entered Baghdad in 1055. Another important age of migration occurred during the Ottoman Empire, Which began with the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent and continued for more than four centuries.

POPULATION AND CONTEMPORARY SETTLEMENT AREAS

turkeman karpet 2 -تحقیقی درباره تاریخچه فرش های نفیس ترکمن

In Search of the Turkmen Carpet

by Richard Wright

Richard Wright's continuing research appears at -
www.richardewright.com

Originally appeared in Oriental Rug Review, Vol. 9, #5
Original captions with corrections provided by Richard Wright, noted as (- RW)
Addtiional captions provided by Tom Cole where noted as ( - TC)

This article tries to illustrate the richness of firsthand descriptions of Turkmen weaving and the nature of the historic sources which contain them.

A well known photograph of a Tekke weaving shed showing work underway appears in Felkersam (1914), but in fact the picture was taken in 1896 or 1898 - RW.

One group of documents consists of indigenous biographies, histories, and travelogues. There is, for example, the history of Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary I and what it has to say about the location and condition of Turkmen tribes early in the 19th century. An account of a diplomatic mission by Riza Quoly Khan is similarly useful for a picture of the fractious and independent Turkmen of the 1830s.2 This literature, however, tends to be descriptively weak concerning ordinary artifacts.

Olufsen offers a photograph (1) of such a rug, now in a Danish museum. What he means by "mosque-pishtak" is explicit: "...there is opposite to the entrance porch a porchlike structure with a large pointed niche, called pishtak... This pishtak dominates the whole complex of buildings. It looks toward Mecca, and here the ecclesiastic who presides...takes his seat...."^5. The gate is accordingly established as an image for the prayer rug in Central Asia at this time.

Plate 1. Olufsen offers a photograph of such a rug, now in a Danish museum. What he means by "mosque-pishtak" is explicit: "...there is opposite to the entrance porch a porchlike structure with a large pointed niche, called pishtak... This pishtak dominates the whole complex of buildings. It looks toward Mecca, and here the ecclesiastic who presides...takes his seat....". The gate is accordingly established as an image for the prayer rug in Central Asia at this time.. -RW

Another rich vein is accounts by outsiders, especially those of Russian veteran Central Asian hands. An excellent general account of the Turkmens was written by Kuropatkin in 1879. He names, locates, and counts the principal groupings (306,220 tents altogether); he describes tribal conflict and identifies trade patterns. He accurately sums the political situation: "The authority of Bokhara, Khiva, and Persia on certain Turkmen tribes, such as, for example, the Ersari, the Tchodors, the Iomuds, the Goklans, so scarcely affirmed, began little by little to strengthen and to turn from nominal (power) to actual (power)." He quotes a Turkmen saying: "No Persian is able to enter Turkmen territory other than at the end of a rope,"^3 that is, as a slave.

Kuropatkin, as well as a few other Europeans, understood the sociology of the Turkmens. Each tribe, village, and family contained sedentary (chomur) and pastoral (charva) elements, reflecting a caste distinction which turned on herd ownership. Status, however, was not immutable. To maintain flocks was to have means; to till the soil was to be poor. The poor and the well-off were mingled. A further important document stream consists of Russian government reports concerning the kustar (home) industries. These reviews cover all production from 1883 on ^4 in Transcaspia district, and thus portray Turkmen weaving except for that of the Bokhara Khanate, an autonomous area outside the normal Imperial administrative structure.

Plate 2. Inclusion of Turkmen carpets in this bazaar description is typical. Observation after observation, photograph on photograph indicates that the Turkmen rug was a staple furnishing in Central Asia. The Bokhara lady at leisure in the 1890s illustrates the point. - RW

A final resource is the photograph. With the introduction of rolled film circa 1890, both the Central Asian traveler and resident functionary had equipment for recording the appearance of textiles, among them many Turkmen rugs. The camera is powerful in that it renders a rug specific in appearance, time, and place. These pictures - and they are abundant - are an important aspect of the written record. But, it is crucial to get timeand place straight. It is also necessary to remember that at this time photographs were posed, not candid. These various sources add up to a rug history. They permit intercomparison and are useful tests for the principal Russian rug dissertations (Felkersam, 1914; Dudin, 1928).

The paragraphs which follow present details on both Turkmen weaving and the nature of the source materials. There is, naturally, a geography involved. A simple, but not wrong, view would categorize Turkmen tribal groups as Western (Chodor, Yomud, Goklen), Eastern (Tekke, Salor, Saryq), and Northern (Ersari). There were, of course, others. Roughly, the Western and Eastern Turkmens occupied the then Transcaspian district, now the Turkmen S.S.R., and the Ersaris were located to the north along the southeastern rim of what was the Bokhara Khanate and is now the Uzbek S.S.R.

Plate 3. The photograph of the doughty Annette Meakin, taken in 1896 or 1898, shows her with recognizable textiles, one of which she and others regularly refer to as "Pende." - RW

In the Bazaars Marketplaces are frequently described. Sometimes the relation of contents becomes fairly detailed. During his 1898-99 trip, O. Olufsen toured Bokhara bazaars: "Close to the harness bazaar is that of the saddle-bags (kurdjum), wallets of woven carpeting laid across the saddle... These kurdjums, often beautifully woven in geometrical patterns in yellow, red, brown, blue, and black contain provisions for the rider for several days. Far out in the northern part of the town the carpet dealers have their bazaar, Tim-i-Gilam, the principal part of which is made up

of an open square place encircled by open shops with stores of thousands and thousands of carpets. Here we find the carpets with nap (gilam) both from Bokhara and the neighbouring countries, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Belutchistan and from the Kirghiz in Turkestan, carpets without nap (pallas) generally with a white ground and decorated with various coloured stripes or geometrical figures and splendid red, blue, black, or white felt carpets (kigis), sometimes with patterns in geometrical designs, all the latter made by the Kirghiz tribes.

Plate 4. Illustrated is a formal portrait of the pious, young khan of Charjui, taken there sometime between 1880 and 1882. The photo shows a popular pattern of likely Tekke origin involving a "turret" main gul drawn in a height-width ratio of 1:1:1. - RW

The carpets made in Bokhara and, as the others, on primitive looms in the open air, are long and narrow and in quality rank between the gilam of the Kirghiz and the Youmuts; they can neither as to solidity nor beauty be compared with those of the Turkomans or Persians but they surpass considerably the Kashgar, Afghan, Belutshee and common Kirghiz carpets. The colours of the Bokhara gilam are mostly brown or red with black, yellow, green or white geometrical patterns. A special sort, used as prayer-carpets in the mosques are, as a rule, red with a mosque-pishtak in white."

Olufsen offers a photograph (1) of such a rug, now in a Danish museum. What he means by "mosque-pishtak" is explicit: "...there is opposite to the entrance porch a porchlike structure with a large pointed niche, called pishtak... This pishtak dominates the whole complex of buildings. It looks toward Mecca, and here the ecclesiastic who presides...takes his seat...."^5. The gate is accordingly established as an image for the prayer rug in Central Asia at this time.

Plate 5. "The Turcoman carpets, too, were very much in demand, and sold readily, in spite of the high prices demanded for them ..." The bazaar in Merv, circa 1918 with a stack of Tekke Turkmen main carpets being offered for sale.

Inclusion of Turkmen carpets in this bazaar description is typical. Observation after observation, photograph on photograph indicates that the Turkmen rug was a staple furnishing in Central Asia. The Bokhara lady at leisure (2) in the 1890s illustrates the point. Numerous writers use the phrase "Turkmen and Bokhara rugs"; these were the two recognized genres. The presence of Turkmen, as distinct from Bokhara, rugs can be noted in urban places throughout western (Russian) Central Asia. The rugs were, in one scholar's phrase, woven by Turkmens to suit an Uzbek taste. Russian military activity gave rise to a process which might ironically be termed a special kind of bazaar. Here is an account of Samuel Gourovitch concerning the assault on the Akhal Tekke at Geok Tepe in 1882:

"The day after the storm of Geok Tepe he (Gourovitch) assisted in the pillage of the Tekke fortress, and secured a large number of valuable carpets, which, however, were taken from him by the military authorities... He had a tolerably good specimen of a small Merv carpet, for which he asked 15 roubles, and another from Geok Tepe, for which he wanted six... (and he had) several carpets, some pierced with bullets and bought with other loot from the soldiers at Geok Tepe...."^6 A similar situation arose after the defeat of Khiva in 1872 and involved collection of an indemnity which the Russians levied on the Khiva Yomuds, who had offered the only neaningful military resistance.

Plate 6. A Tekke Turkmen family in their yurt, with utensils for spinning wool. Note the pile of rugs behind them, suggesting they were engaged in making rugs for commerce. - TC

"The Turcoman carpets, too, were very much in demand, and sold readily, in spite of the high prices demanded for them and of the fact that hundreds had been "looted" in the campaign against the Yomuds. A carpet, four yards long by two wide, brought 4 to 5 (pounds). A curious feature of the sale was, that although the Turcomans must have been hard pressed for money to pay the indemnity, they could not be induced to lower their prices a single kopek. They simply named their price, and you might take the article or leave it, as you pleased. The carpets are made by the women, and will compare favourably with the best carpets made anywhere. Each family has a different pattern, which is handed down from generation to generation as an heirloom, without undergoing the slightest change. The colours are principally red and white, interspersed with small patches of green and brown, and are really very pretty, as well as durable. ^7 What is pointed up by these stories of looting and booty is that Turkmen carpets were an accepted item of value.

In Situ A difficulty with bazaar observations is the possibility of mistaken attribution. Such is not a problem for on site accounts. Two rather interesting observations involve the sedentary Goklen who occupied a small area within Persian jurisdiction. Here Fraser in 1825 remarked on the weaving of both felts and carpets.^8 Yate, however, in 1894 described a different situation: "The interior of their kibitkas was even dirty too, and they had none of the cleanliness and fine carpets and wall-bags of the Tekkes and Sariks... The Goklans did not appear to me to be such an industrious race as their brethren the Tekkes or the Sariks. They made no carpets, and only a few coarse rugs. Felts apparently were their only manufacture....^9"

Plate 7. A Yomud woman at work, weaving within the confines of the yurt in which she lives. Note the flat woven chuvals suspended by ropes to the interior lattice of the yurt, situated just behind her. - TC

Two observations do not a conclusion make; it is the case, however, that attribution of rugs to the Goklen must deal with early and late characterizations which are quite different. An on-site report of 1884 originates with Lessar, a Central Asian veteran, later to become Russian political agent in Bokhara. He toured Transcaspia's eastern extremity to the Pende oasis and the Persian border town of Seraks. Among other things he describes the weaving activity of the Saryq Turkmens: "There are also hand-made goods which the Saryks export. 1) First place among them is taken by rugs; their pattern is slightly different from those of Merv, and the quality is worse than those of Merv, due to the admixture of cotton and absence of an admixture of silk. In the oasis, due to the lack of mulberry trees,

silkworm breeding is not practiced. The price of the rugs is nearly the same as those from Merv. 2) Felts are produced in significant amounts in Pende; a piece 5 arshins (11 feet) in length and approximately 3 (7 feet) in width costs 10 krans. 3) From the hair of young camels (one to two years old) a beautiful material for robes is made. One woman can make one piece of the material about 9 arshins (21 feet) long and fourteen to fifteen vershoks (1 foot, 3 inches) wide. This material is very highly valued in Persia and Herat; one piece costs 200-300 krans. Among the Saryks themselves there are not people wealthy enough to wear these robes... Other goods manufactured by the Saryks' artisans serve only to satisfy local needs."^10

Plate 8. Members of the ruling family in Khiva, shown sitting on a Chodor carpet displaying the classic 'ertmen gol' pattern, taken no later than 1896. - TC

These are solid particulars about a woven product, fixed in time and place. The photograph (3) of the doughty Annette Meakin, taken in 1902, shows her with recognizable textiles, one of which she and others regularly refer to as "Pende." Weaving in Ersari territory is glowingly described by Logofet who was there shortly after the turn of the century: "Kerki and all of the left bank of the Amu-Dariya to the kishlak Bassaga has been from earliest times a center of rug production in the Bukhara domain. Passed from generation to generation, this art in the above-mentioned region, was brought to a high level of market.

perfection; thereby Kerki rugs, or as they are often called, kizil-ayak, from the name of the village which is 40 versts from Kerki, justifiably, after Tekkes, occupy second place in the rug commodityLately the quality of their production has deteriorated and the main reason will be found in the fact that the producers of the rugs could not afford to dye their wool with expensive vegetable dyes, in view of the fact that the market price of the rugs is at a comparatively low level, and the expenditure of time and effort in the production of each square arshine of rug is tremendous. So counterfeiting touched the rug industry as well.^11"

Plate 9. A photograph by S. Prokudin-Gorskii showing two Tekke Turkmen posing for the camera in front of their yurt, with a main carpet on the ground in front of them. Photo taken circa 1918 - TC

Quite a bit has been written about this particular weaving locale. Felkersam, author of the standard work on Central Asian weaving, reports an earlier description (1902, by Laurenti) of "Kerki and Bashiri" weaving.^12 Of considerable interest in this regard is Komarov's census of 32 Kerki district and 26 Charjui district hamlets in the Amu Daria left bank territory for the year 1886. While he does give particulars about a hamlet, Kizil-Ayak (300 family units), it is his general description of the area which is significant. He identifies the four Ersari tribal wings -- one of which is the Kizil-Ayak -- and their locations in the Kerki and

Charjui bekdoms. He leaves no doubt that the entire area was irrigated, and hence had sedentary, not nomadic, population.^13 In the early 20th century Bokhara Khanate commercial weaving activity may have been extensive. Wm. Eleroy Curtis visited Bokhara City in 1910 and asserted that every house had a loom. While he certainly did not limit home looms to rug weaving, his description of locally produced rugs is specific and concrete. He noted that they had 10 or 12 designs, but only four or five were commonly used.^14 Who the weavers were he does not say, but the rug he discusses is the Bokhara type.

Plate 10. Turkmen weaving in a photo taken by Dudin, circa 1902 - TC

In Commerce The historic sources document an established, longstanding Turkmen rug trade vis-a-vis Central Asia and northeastern Persia. Fraser had extensive experience along the Russo-Persian border. Writing after his trip of 1822-23 he stated: "The manufactures of the Toorkomans consist chiefly in carpets, which they weave of very beautiful fabrik, and which are highly prized, fetching very huge prices. They are chiefly of the twilled sort, but they also make them of a fabrick resembling the best Turkey carpets, and of very brilliant patterns. They seldom exceed in size an oblong of from twelve to sixteen by eight or ten feet, and for the most part are greatly smaller. They also weave cloth of camels' hair, and coarse woollens, chiefly for their own use; as well as numuds (felts) of an inferior quality."^15 At this time the term manufactures has a clear commercial connotation, underscored by Fraser's later reference to products made for home use. Here is a general comment from the early 1880s on the home industry of Tekke Turkmens, by one who unwillingly lived with them for several months: "When a Turcoman is blessed with a large number of daughters, he contrives to realize a considerable sum per annum by the felt and other carpets which they make. In this case an ev (felt tent) is set apart as a workshop, and three or four girls are usually occupied upon each carpet, sometimes for a couple of months.

Each girl generally manufactures two extra fine carpets, to form part of her dowry when she marries. When this has been done, she devotes herself to producing goods for the markets at Meshed and Bokhara, where the Turcoman carpets fetch a much higher price than those manufactured in Khorassan or beyond the Oxus. Sometimes these carpets are made partly of silk, bought from Bokhara. They are generally twice the size of the ordinary ones, which are made from sheep's wool and camel hair mingled with a little cotton, and are almost entirely of silk. They fetch enormous prices."^16 Illustrated (4) is a formal portrait of the pious, young khan of Charjui, taken there sometime between 1880 and 1882. The photo shows a popular pattern of likely Tekke origin involving a "turret" main gul drawn in a height-width ratio of 1:1:1. The photo demonstrates that this gul form was extant and in fashion at this time. A well known photograph of a Tekke weaving shed showing work underway appears in Felkersam (1914), but in fact the picture was taken in 1902. Depicted is a flattened form of the same gul with a quite different height-width ratio. The two photographs may be indicators of the time this motif changed shape.

Plate 11. A Tekke Turkmen woman working at a loom. Photo taken by Dudin, circa 1902 - TC

Inside the Bureaucracy At the same time Curtis was writing about Bokhara City, the Statistical Committee, Transcaspia Oblast, was fully describing the kustar industry of the Turkmens. Both Merv and Ashkabad had warehouses for furnishing the weavers with vegetable dyes and high grade wools. A government effort to improve the quality of the product in this way had begun around 1907. All of the woven products are reported on and include rugs, kilims, saddle-bags, prayer rugs, juvals, torbas, and tent bands. In 1911 Merv produced over 1,000 rugs and more than 2,000 juvals, torbas, and tent bands (combined). Ashkabad wove but 200 rugs but

nearly 4,000 tent bands.^17 There was a large overseas export; in the year 1913 the product value of overseas shipments was 1,244,000 roubles, 62% of an annual production estimated at 40,000 pieces.^18 Furthermore, an established weaving industry existed in the heart of Turkmen territory in the early 1880s. While the data are sketchier, a Transcaspian commerce in woven products is described and the same product line revealed.^19 There are several particulars:

Plate 12. A Tekke family posing for a photograph, circa 1918. Photo by S. Prokudin-Gorskii - TC

One, primarily a curiosity, is the fact that during the years 1884 and 1885 the Merv Tekkes were making Persian design rugs. There is, of course, a principle here: design shifts can easily occur in commercial weaving. The serious question, not illuminated by this episode, is whether weaving for the trade differed in any important way from weaving for home use. The record, so far at any rate, suggests they were the same. Another item of interest is the statement that other than for one local plant used to produce a yellow dye, dyes were imported from Khiva and Bokhara. This practice means that dyes for Turkmen rugs, particularly Yomud, have to be seen in this perspective.

A matter of deeper significance is revealed in these reports: they state it was the poor who wove. How matters might have worked is hinted at by the nature of Turkmen society. Since chomur and charva lived and worked together, labor supply was co-located with raw material. Indeed, while the reports note hamlets specializing in the home industry of silvermaking, they make no mention of weaving hamlets. Kustar activity also extends into the Soviet period. Circa 1930, the product categories were: Tekke, Pendi, Yomud, Kerki, Ensi, Juval, and Torba, and various small products including door surrounds and tent bands. In other words, the traditional product mix continued. There is, in short, a considerable continuity to commercial Turkmen weaving, with no a priori distinctions between the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods.

Plate 13. Photographed no later than 1896, the retinue of the Khan of Khiva is shown here, a Yomud group 'kepse' gol rug at their feet. - TC

In Other Regards While the home industry included piled and flatwoven products, the dominant product was felts, a thing to be expected in such a society. All was not monochromatic tent frame and floor covering. Here is an observation made by Orsolle among the Yomuds in the 1880s: "...these Turcomen are occupied peacefully in the sale of thick felt rugs, decorated with red and green arabesques...."^20. Moser at about this time was further east, with the Akhal Tekke, and commented: "The woman who marries brings as dowry a certain number of felts which she has made in her spare time, among which must be included a very fine covering for the horse of her spouse."^21 The sources make it clear that felts could be a quality decorated object and were an important element of both the weaving economy and of Turkmen society. The many photographs of and statements about the dwelling door curtain indicate overwhelmingly that they, too, were made of felt. There does not seem to be a photograph of a Turkmen pile door covering; one etching is apparently all there is by way of visual evidence. The kustar documents do not help, for the term ensi is not used; ensi is a Soviet period label. Rather, these reports speak of "prayer carpets" for both Eastern and Western areas. Whether what was being reported was misnamed ensi or proper prayer carpets is not clear.

There is also information from the past concerning dyes. The list of Schuyler, one of the standard encyclopedic sources on Central Asia, is typical. He identifies the local sources for yellow and black and mentions both local madder and imported indigo. Concerning red he observes: "Cochineal is frequently used for dyeing silk red. It is chiefly brought from Bukhara, although the insect is found in abundance in the spring in Tashkent and the neighborhood, on the young leaves of the ash, mulberry and other trees. Since the introduction of fuchsine from Russia, the use of cochineal and of other native dyes have fallen off. For that reason in Khokand the Khan prohibited (in 1876) the importation of fuchsine, as being an inferior dyestuff."^22 Schuyler's treatment can be taken as typical; an equivalent source of the same period (1880s) would be Lansdell.^23. Later (1902) Annette Meakin identified dyestuffs in Bokhara as indigo from India, cochineal from Russia, native madder, and sophora japonica for yellow.^24 Chemical analysis of dyes is an important research tool. But the historic sources reveal the messiness of reality: an apparent widespread use of imported dyes by the Turkmens, a concentrated effort to import Bokhara natural dyes into Turkmen territory circa 1910, and the apparent use in Bokhara of "Russian," i.e. imported, insect red as late as 1902. The trek from dye analysis to date is slippery, and any attempt to use synthetic red as an absolute dating method would be simplistic..

Plate 14. A Tekke Turkmen rug vendor in the Merv bazaar, circa 1918- TC

In Perspective Unquestionably many as yet unknown sources of information about Turkmen weaving await discovery. Since the material is there and wants only the digging, there is no great hurry to reach conclusions about the Turkmen oeuvre. But two or three notions insist on emerging now. One is the unremarkable fact that the 20th century is proximate to the l9th. Given the existence of an active Turkmen weaving for regional and subsequently international commerce during the late l9th/early 20th centuries, there should be some good reason (or at least some reasons) to look elsewhere for the origins of the many Turkmen rugs surviving today.

Another is that Turkmen weaving for the Central Asian market may extend well back in time. The record consistently notes the distinction between weaving for commerce and weaving for home use, with the former present throughout the l9th century. Central Asia has been Uzbek dominated since 1600 and Turkic for much longer. One possibility is a longstanding Turkmen weaving role in this culture. What matters most, however, is the esthetics of Turkmen weaving. Here the roots may be deep. Color combinations and patterns (be they girik knot) or tamgha (clan brand) or something else) may well have developed long ago. The terms to be encountered in such a quest -- Sogdian, Oghuz, Sassanian, Kushan, etc. -- will differ radically from those of latter days. This task lies ahead.

NOTES

1. Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary, Histoire de il'Asie Centrale, ed. and trans. Ch Schefer, Paris, 1876.

2. Riza Quoly Khan, Relation de l'Ambassade au Kharezm, ed. and trans., Chas. Schefer, Paris, 1 876, p. 58.

3. Kuropatkin, Lt. Col. A., Voienny Sbornik, Sept.-Oct., 879, p. 322.

4. Obzor Zacaspii'ski Oblast; vol. I, 1883-90, annually hereafter until 1916.

5. Olufsen, O. , The Emir of Bokhara and his Country, London, 1911, pp.329, 332, 546.

6. Marvin, Charles, The Region of Eternal Fire, London, 1888, p. 71.

7. MacGahan, J.A., Campaigning on the Oxus..., New York, 874, p. 412.

8. Fraser, James B., Narrative of a Journey..., London, 1825, p. 602.

9. Yate, Lt. Col. C.E., Khurasan and Sistan, London, 1900, p. 233-4.

10. Lessar, P.M., Yugo-zapadnaya Turkmeniya, 1885, p. 53.

11. Logofet, D. N., Na Granitsakh Srednei Azii, St. Petersburg, 1909, Vol. I, p. 124-5.

12. Felkersam, Baron A., Starye Gody, April-May, 1915, p. 5.

13. Komarov, Capt. G. Sh., Sbornik geograficheskikh...po Azii, Vol. 25, p. 278 ff.

14. Curtis, Wm. Eleroy, Turkestan, The Heart of Central Asia, New York, 1911, p. 167.

15. Fraser, James B., Into Khorassan, Appendix B, Part II, p. 41.

16. O'Donovan, Edmund, The Merv Oasis, New York, 1883, Vol. II, p. 252.

17. Obzor zakaspiiskoi oblasti za 1911 g., Ashkabad, 1890, p. 104 ff.

18. Kustarnaya I remeslennaya promyshlennost' natsionalnikh respublik, Moscow, 1926, p. 7.
l
19.Obsor zakaspiiskoi oblasti, Ashkabad, 1890, p. 104 ff.

20. Orsolle, Le Caucase et la Perse, Paris, 1885, p. 330.

21. Moser, Henri, A Travers l'Asie Central, Paris, 1885, p. 330.

22. Schuyler, Eugene, Turkestan, New York, 1876, Vol. I, p. 182.

23. Lansdell, Henry, Russian Central Asia, Boston, 1885, Vol. I, p. 482.

24. Meakin, Annette M.B., In Russian Turkestan, London, 1903, p. 38

This is an adaptation of part of a paper given by Richard E. Wright at the Interatrional Conference on Central Asian Carpets in Leningrad in 1988.

Turkmen Carpets

In Search of Turkmen Carpets

by Richard E. Wright

This article tries to illustrate both the richness of firsthand descriptions of Turkmen weaving and the nature of the historic sources which contain them.

This Article Appeared in ORR Vol. 9/5

One group of documents consists of indigenous biographies, histories, and travelogues. There is, for example, the history of Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary1 and what it has to say about the location and condition of Turkmen tribes early in the 19th century. An account of a diplomatic mission by Riza Quoly Khan is similarly useful for a picture of the fractious and independent Turkmen of the 1830s.2 This literature, however, tends to be descriptively weak concerning ordinary artifacts.

Olufsen offers a photograph (Figure 1) of such a rug, now in a Danish museum. What he means by "mosque-pishtak" is explicit: "...there is opposite to the entrance porch a porchlike structure with a large pointed niche, called pishtak... This pishtak dominates the whole complex of buildings. It looks toward Mecca, and here the ecclesiastic who presides...takes his seat...."5. The gate is accordingly established as an image for the prayer rug in Central Asia at this time.

Another rich vein is accounts by outsiders, especially those of Russian veteran Central Asian hands. An excellent general account of the Turkmens was written by Kuropatkin in 1879. He names, locates, and counts the principal groupings (306,220 tents altogether); he describes tribal conflict and identifies trade patterns. He accurately sums the political situation: "The authority of Bokhara, Khiva, and Persia on certain Turkmen tribes, such as, for example, the Ersari, the Tchodors, the Iomuds, the Goklans, so scarcely affirmed, began little by little to strengthen and to turn from nominal (power) to actual (power)." He quotes a Turkmen saying: "No Persian is able to enter Turkmen territory other than at the end of a rope,"3 that is, as a slave.

Kuropatkin, as well as a few other Europeans, understood the sociology of the Turkmens. Each tribe, village, and family contained sedentary (chomur) and pastoral (charva) elements, reflecting a caste distinction which turned on herd ownership. Status, however, was not immutable. To maintain flocks was to have means; to till the soil was to be poor. The poor and the well-off were mingled.

A further important document stream consists of Russian government reports concerning the kustar (home) industries. These reviews cover all production from 1883 on4 in Transcaspia district, and thus portray Turkmen weaving except for that of the Bokhara Khanate, an autonomous area outside the normal Imperial administrative structure.

A final resource is the photograph. With the introduction of rolled film circa 1890, both the Central Asian traveler and resident functionary had equipment for recording the appearance of textiles, among them many Turkmen rugs. The camera is powerful in that it renders a rug specific in appearance, time, and place. These pictures - and they are abundant - are an important aspect of the written record. But, it is crucial to get time and place straight. It is also necessary to remember that at this time photographs were posed, not candid.

These various sources add up to a rug history. They permit intercomparison and are useful tests for the principal Russian rug dissertations (Felkersam, 1914; Dudin, 1928). The paragraphs which follow present details on both Turkmen weaving and the nature of the source materials.

There is, naturally, a geography involved. A simple, but not wrong, view would categorize Turkmen tribal groups as Western (Chodor, Yomud, Goklen), Eastern (Tekke, Salor, Saryq), and Northern (Ersari). There were, of course, others. Roughly, the Western and Eastern Turkmens occupied the then Transcaspian district, now the Turkmen S.S.R., and the Ersaris were located to the north along the southeastern rim of what was the Bokhara Khanate and is now the Uzbek S.S.R.

In the Bazaars

Marketplaces are frequently described. Sometimes the relation of contents becomes fairly detailed. During his 1898-99 trip, O. Olufsen toured Bokhara bazaars:

"Close to the harness bazaar is that of the saddle-bags (kurdjum), wallets of woven carpeting laid across the saddle... These kurdjums, often beautifully woven in geometrical patterns in yellow, red, brown, blue, and black contain provisions for the rider for several days.

Far out in the northern part of the town the carpet dealers have their bazaar, Tim-i-Gilam, the principal part of which is made up of an open square place encircled by open shops with stores of thousands and thousands of carpets. Here we find the carpets with nap (gilam) both from Bokhara and the neighbouring countries, Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Belutchistan and from the Kirghiz in Turkestan, carpets without nap (pallas) generally with a white ground and decorated with various coloured stripes or geometrical figures and splendid red, blue, black, or white felt carpets (kigis), sometimes with patterns in geometrical designs, all the latter made by the Kirghiz tribes. The carpets made in Bokhara and, as the others, on primitive looms in the open air, are long and narrow and in quality rank between the gilam of the Kirghiz and the Youmuts; they can neither as to solidity nor beauty be compared with those of the Turkomans or Persians but they surpass considerably the Kashgar, Afghan, Belutshee and common Kirghiz carpets. The colours of the Bokhara gilam are mostly brown or red with black, yellow, green or white geometrical patterns. A special sort, used as prayer-carpets in the mosques are, as a rule, red with a mosque-pishtak in white."

Olufsen offers a photograph (Figure 1) of such a rug, now in a Danish museum. What he means by "mosque-pishtak" is explicit: "...there is opposite to the entrance porch a porchlike structure with a large pointed niche, called pishtak... This pishtak dominates the whole complex of buildings. It looks toward Mecca, and here the ecclesiastic who presides...takes his seat...."5. The gate is accordingly established as an image for the prayer rug in Central Asia at this time.

Inclusion of Turkmen carpets in this bazaar description is typical. Observation after observation, photograph on photograph indicates that the Turkmen rug was a staple furnishing in Central Asia. The Bokhara lady at leisure (Figure 2) in the 1890s illustrates the point.

Inclusion of Turkmen carpets in this bazaar description is typical. Observation after observation, photograph on photograph indicates that the Turkmen rug was a staple furnishing in Central Asia. The Bokhara lady at leisure (Figure 2) in the 1890s illustrates the point. Numerous writers use the phrase "Turkmen and Bokhara rugs"; these were the two recognized genres. The presence of Turkmen, as distinct from Bokhara, rugs can be noted in urban places throughout western (Russian) Central Asia. The rugs were, in one scholar's phrase, woven by Turkmens to suit an Uzbek taste.

Russian military activity gave rise to a process which might ironically be termed a special kind of bazaar. Here is an account of Samuel Gourovitch concerning the assault on the Akhal Tekke at Geok Tepe in 1882:

"The day after the storm of Geok Tepe he (Gourovitch) assisted in the pillage of the Tekke fortress, and secured a large number of valuable carpets, which, however, were taken from him by the military authorities... He had a tolerably good specimen of a small Merv carpet, for which he asked 15 roubles, and another from Geok Tepe, for which he wanted six... (and he had) several carpets, some pierced with bullets and bought with other loot from the soldiers at Geok Tepe...."6

A similar situation arose after the defeat of Khiva in 1872 and involved collection of an indemnity which the Russians levied on the Khiva Yomuds, who had offered the only neaningful military resistance.

"The Turcoman carpets, too, were very much in demand, and sold readily, in spite of the high prices demanded for them and of the fact that hundreds had been "looted" in the campaign against the Yomuds. A carpet, four yards long by two wide, brought 4 to 5 (pounds). A curious feature of the sale was, that although the Turcomans must have been hard pressed for money to pay the indemnity, they could not be induced to lower their prices a single kopek. They simply named their price, and you might take the article or leave it, as you pleased. The carpets are made by the women, and will compare favourably with the best carpets made anywhere. Each family has a different pattern, which is handed down from generation to generation as an heirloom, without undergoing the slightest change. The colours are principally red and white, interspersed with small patches of green and brown, and are really very pretty, as well as durable.7

What is pointed up by these stories of looting and booty is that Turkmen carpets were an accepted item of value.

In Situ

A difficulty with bazaar observations is the possibility of mistaken attribution. Such is not a problem for on site accounts. Two rather interesting observations involve the sedentary Goklen who occupied a small area within Persian jurisdiction. Here Fraser in 1825 remarked on the weaving of both felts and carpets.8

Yate, however, in 1894 described a different situation:

"The interior of their kibitkas was even dirty too, and they had none of the cleanliness and fine carpets and wall-bags of the Tekkes and Sariks... The Goklans did not appear to me to be such an industrious race as their brethren the Tekkes or the Sariks. They made no carpets, and only a few coarse rugs. Felts apparently were their only manufacture....9"

Two observations do not a conclusion make; it is the case, however, that attribution of rugs to the Goklen must deal with early and late characterizations which are quite different.

An on-site report of 1884 originates with Lessar, a Central Asian veteran, later to become Russian political agent in Bokhara. He toured Transcaspia's eastern extremity to the Pende oasis and the Persian border town of Seraks. Among other things he describes the weaving activity of the Saryq Turkmens:

"There are also hand-made goods which the Saryks export.

1) First place among them is taken by rugs; their pattern is slightly different from those of Merv, and the quality is worse than those of Merv, due to the admixture of cotton and absence of an admixture of silk. In the oasis, due to the lack of mulberry trees, silkworm breeding is not practiced. The price of the rugs is nearly the same as those from Merv.

2) Felts are produced in significant amounts in Pende; a piece 5 arshins (11 feet) in length and approximately 3 (7 feet) in width costs 10 krans.

3) From the hair of young camels (one to two years old) a beautiful material for robes is made. One woman can make one piece of the material about 9 arshins (21 feet) long and fourteen to fifteen vershoks (1 foot, 3 inches) wide. This material is very highly valued in Persia and Herat; one piece costs 200-300 krans. Among the Saryks themselves there are not people wealthy enough to wear these robes... Other goods manufactured by the Saryks' artisans serve only to satisfy local needs."10

The photograph (Figure 3) of the doughty Annette Meakin, taken in 1902, shows her with recognizable textiles, one of which she and others regularly refer to as "Pende."

These are solid particulars about a woven product, fixed in time and place. The photograph (Figure 3) of the doughty Annette Meakin, taken in 1902, shows her with recognizable textiles, one of which she and others regularly refer to as "Pende."

Weaving in Ersari territory is glowingly described by Logofet who was there shortly after the turn of the century: "Kerki and all of the left bank of the Amu-Dariya to the kishlak Bassaga has been from earliest times a center of rug production in the Bukhara domain. Passed from generation to generation, this art in the above-mentioned region, was brought to a high level of perfection; thereby Kerki rugs, or as they are often called, kizil-ayak, from the name of the village which is 40 versts from Kerki, justifiably, after Tekkes, occupy second place in the rug commodity market. Lately the quality of their production has deteriorated and the main reason will be found in the fact that the producers of the rugs could not afford to dye their wool with expensive vegetable dyes, in view of the fact that the market price of the rugs is at a comparatively low level, and the expenditure of time and effort in the production of each square arshine of rug is tremendous. So counterfeiting touched the rug industry as well.11"

Quite a bit has been written about this particular weaving locale. Felkersam, author of the standard work on Central Asian weaving, reports an earlier description (1902, by Laurenti) of "Kerki and Bashiri" weaving.12 Of considerable interest in this regard is Komarov's census of 32 Kerki district and 26 Charjui district hamlets in the Amu Daria left bank territory for the year 1886. While he does give particulars about a hamlet, Kizil-Ayak (300 family units), it is his general description of the area which is significant. He identifies the four Ersari tribal wings -- one of which is the Kizil-Ayak -- and their locations in the Kerki and Charjui bekdoms. He leaves no doubt that the entire area was irrigated, and hence had sedentary, not nomadic, population.13

In the early 20th century Bokhara Khanate commercial weaving activity may have been extensive. Wm. Eleroy Curtis visited Bokhara City in 1910 and asserted that every house had a loom. While he certainly did not limit home looms to rug weaving, his description of locally produced rugs is specific and concrete. He noted that they had 10 or 12 designs, but only four or five were commonly used.14 Who the weavers were he does not say, but the rug he discusses is the Bokhara type.

In Commerce

The historic sources document an established, longstanding Turkmen rug trade vis-a-vis Central Asia and northeastern Persia. Fraser had extensive experience along the Russo-Persian border. Writing after his trip of 1822-23 he stated: "The manufactures of the Toorkomans consist chiefly in carpets, which they weave of very beautiful fabrik, and which are highly prized, fetching very huge prices. They are chiefly of the twilled sort, but they also make them of a fabrick resembling the best Turkey carpets, and of very brilliant patterns. They seldom exceed in size an oblong of from twelve to sixteen by eight or ten feet, and for the most part are greatly smaller. They also weave cloth of camels' hair, and coarse woollens, chiefly for their own use; as well as numuds (felts) of an inferior quality."15 At this time the term manufactures has a clear commercial connotation, underscored by Fraser's later reference to products made for home use.

Here is a general comment from the early 1880s on the home industry of Tekke Turkmens, by one who unwillingly lived with them for several months:

"When a Turcoman is blessed with a large number of daughters, he contrives to realize a considerable sum per annum by the felt and other carpets which they make. In this case an ev (felt tent) is set apart as a workshop, and three or four girls are usually occupied upon each carpet, sometimes for a couple of months.

Each girl generally manufactures two extra fine carpets, to form part of her dowry when she marries. When this has been done, she devotes herself to producing goods for the markets at Meshed and Bokhara, where the Turcoman carpets fetch a much higher price than those manufactured in Khorassan or beyond the Oxus. Sometimes these carpets are made partly of silk, bought from Bokhara. They are generally twice the size of the ordinary ones, which are made from sheep's wool and camel hair mingled with a little cotton, and are almost entirely of silk. They fetch enormous prices."16

Illustrated (Figure 4) is a formal portrait of the pious, young khan of Charjui, taken there sometime between 1880 and 1882. The photo shows a popular pattern of likely Tekke origin involving a "turret" main gul drawn in a height-width ratio of 1:1:1.

Illustrated (Figure 4) is a formal portrait of the pious, young khan of Charjui, taken there sometime between 1880 and 1882. The photo shows a popular pattern of likely Tekke origin involving a "turret" main gul drawn in a height-width ratio of 1:1:1. The photo demonstrates that this gul form was extant and in fashion at this time. A well known photograph of a Tekke weaving shed showing work underway appears in Felkersam (1914), but in fact the picture was taken in 1902. Depicted is a flattened form of the same gul with a quite different height-width ratio. The two photographs may be indicators of the time this motif changed shape.

Inside the Bureaucracy

At the same time Curtis was writing about Bokhara City, the Statistical Committee, Transcaspia Oblast, was fully describing the kustar industry of the Turkmens. Both Merv and Ashkabad had warehouses for furnishing the weavers with vegetable dyes and high grade wools. A government effort to improve the quality of the product in this way had begun around 1907. All of the woven products are reported on and include rugs, kilims, saddle-bags, prayer rugs, juvals, torbas, and tent bands. In 1911 Merv produced over 1,000 rugs and more than 2,000 juvals, torbas, and tent bands (combined). Ashkabad wove but 200 rugs but nearly 4,000 tent bands.17 There was a large overseas export; in the year 1913 the product value of overseas shipments was 1,244,000 roubles, 62% of an annual production estimated at 40,000 pieces.18

Furthermore, an established weaving industry existed in the heart of Turkmen territory in the early 1880s. While the data are sketchier, a Transcaspian commerce in woven products is described and the same product line revealed.19 There are several particulars:

A well known photograph of a Tekke weaving shed showing work underway appears in Felkersam (1914), but in fact the picture was taken in 1902.

One, primarily a curiosity, is the fact that during the years 1884 and 1885 the Merv Tekkes were making Persian design rugs. There is, of course, a principle here: design shifts can easily occur in commercial weaving. The serious question, not illuminated by this episode, is whether weaving for the trade differed in any important way from weaving for home use. The record, so far at any rate, suggests they were the same.

Another item of interest is the statement that other than for one local plant used to produce a yellow dye, dyes were imported from Khiva and Bokhara. This practice means that dyes for Turkmen rugs, particularly Yomud, have to be seen in this perspective.

A matter of deeper significance is revealed in these reports: they state it was the poor who wove. How matters might have worked is hinted at by the nature of Turkmen society. Since chomur and charva lived and worked together, labor supplywas co-located with raw material. Indeed, while the reports note hamlets specializing in the home industry of silvermaking, they make no mention of weaving hamlets.

Kustar activity also extends into the Soviet period. Circa 1930, the product categories were: Tekke, Pendi, Yomud, Kerki, Ensi, Juval, and Torba, and various small products including door surrounds and tent bands. In other words, the traditional product mix continued. There is, in short, a considerable continuity to commercial Turkmen weaving, with no a priori distinctions between the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods.

In Other Regards

While the home industry included piled and flatwoven products, the dominant product was felts, a thing to be expected in such a society. All was not monochromatic tent frame and floor covering. Here is an observation made by Orsolle among the Yomuds in the 1880s: "...these Turcomen are occupied peacefully in the sale of thick felt rugs, decorated with red and green arabesques...."30. Moser at about this time was further east, with the Akhal Tekke, and commented: "The woman who marries brings as dowry a certain number of felts which she has made in her spare time, among which must be included a very fine covering for the horse of her spouse."21

The sources make it clear that felts could be a quality decorated object and were an important element of both the weaving economy and of Turkmen society.

The many photographs of and statements about the dwelling door curtain indicate overwhelmingly that they, too, were made of felt. There does not seem to be a photograph of a Turkmen pile door covering; one etching is apparently all there is by way of visual evidence. The kustar documents do not help, for the term ensi is not used; ensi is a Soviet period label. Rather, these reports speak of "prayer carpets" for both Eastern and Western areas. Whether what was being reported was misnamed ensi or proper prayer carpets is not clear.

There is also information from the past concerning dyes. The list of Schuyler, one of the standard encyclopedic sources on Central Asia, is typical. He identifies the local sources for yellow and black and mentions both local madder and imported indigo. Concerning red he observes: "Cochineal is frequently used for dyeing silk red. It is chiefly brought from Bukhara, although the insect is found in abundance in the spring in Tashkent and the neighborhood, on the young leaves of the ash, mulberry and other trees. Since the introduction of fuchsine from Russia, the use of cochineal and of other native dyes have fallen off. For that reason in Khokand the Khan prohibited (in 1876) the importation of fuchsine, as being an inferior dyestuff."22

Schuyler's treatment can be taken as typical; an equivalent source of the same period (1880s) would be Lansdell.23. Later (1902) Annette Meakin identified dyestuffs in Bokhara as indigo from India, cochineal from Russia, native madder, and sophora japonica for yellow.24

Chemical analysis of dyes is an important research tool. But the historic sources reveal the messiness of reality: an apparent widespread use of imported dyes by the Turkmens, a concentrated effort to import Bokhara natural dyes into Turkmen territory circa 1910, and the apparent use in Bokhara of "Russian," i.e. imported, insect red as late as 1902.

The trek from dye analysis to date is slippery, and any attempt to use synthetic red as an absolute dating method would be simplistic.

In Perspective

Unquestionably many as yet unknown sources of information about Turkmen weaving await discovery. Since the material is there and wants only the digging, there is no great hurry to reach conclusions about the Turkmen oeuvre.

But two or three notions insist on emerging now. One is the unremarkable fact that the 20th century is proximate to the l9th. Given the existence of an active Turkmen weaving for regional and subsequently international commerce during the late l9th/early 20th centuries, there should be some good reason (or at least some reasons) to look elsewhere for the origins of the many Turkmen rugs surviving today.

Another is that Turkmen weaving for the Central Asian market may extend well back in time. The record consistently notes the distinction between weaving for commerce and weaving for home use, with the former present throughout the l9th century. Central Asia has been Uzbek dominated since 1600 and Turkic for much longer. One possibility is a longstanding Turkmen weaving role in this culture.

What matters most, however, is the esthetics of Turkmen weaving. Here the roots may be deep. Color combinations and patterns (be they girik knot) or tamgha (clan brand) or something else) may well have developed long ago. The terms to be encountered in such a quest -- Sogdian, Oghuz, Sassanian, Kushan, etc. -- will differ radically from those of latter days. This task lies ahead.

notes

1. Mir Abdoul Kerim Boukhary, Histoire de il'Asie Centrale, ed. and trans. Ch Schefer, Paris, 1876.
2. Riza Quoly Khan, Relation de l'Ambassade au Kharezm, ed. and trans., Chas. Schefer, Paris, 1 876, p. 58.
3. Kuropatkin, Lt. Col. A., Voienny Sbornik, Sept.-Oct., 879, p. 322.
4. Obzor Zacaspii'ski Oblast; vol. I, 1883-90, annually hereafter until 1916.
5. Olufsen, O. , The Emir of Bokhara and his Country, London, 1911, pp.329, 332, 546.
6. Marvin, Charles, The Region of Eternal Fire, London, 1888, p. 71.
7. MacGahan, J.A., Campaigning on the Oxus..., New York, 874, p. 412.
8. Fraser, James B., Narrative of a Journey..., London, 1825, p. 602.
9. Yate, Lt. Col. C.E., Khurasan and Sistan, London, 1900, p. 233-4.
10. Lessar, P.M., Yugo-zapadnaya Turkmeniya, 1885, p. 53.
11. Logofet, D. N., Na Granitsakh Srednei Azii, St. Petersburg, 1909, Vol. I, p. 124-5.
12. Felkersam, Baron A., Starye Gody, April-May, 1915, p. 5.
13. Komarov, Capt. G. Sh., Sbornik geograficheskikh...po Azii, Vol. 25, p. 278 ff.
14. Curtis, Wm. Eleroy, Turkestan, The Heart of Central Asia, New York, 1911, p. 167.
15. Fraser, James B., Into Khorassan, Appendix B, Part II, p. 41.
16. O'Donovan, Edmund, The Merv Oasis, New York, 1883, Vol. II, p. 252.
17. Obzor zakaspiiskoi oblasti za 1911 g., Ashkabad, 1890, p. 104 ff.
18. Kustarnaya I remeslennaya promyshlennost' natsionalnikh respublik, Moscow, 1926, p. 7.
l9.Obsor zakaspiiskoi oblasti, Ashkabad, 1890, p. 104 ff.
20. Orsolle, Le Caucase et la Perse, Paris, 1885, p. 330.
21. Moser, Henri, A Travers l'Asie Central, Paris, 1885, p. 330.
22. Schuyler, Eugene, Turkestan, New York, 1876, Vol. I, p. 182.
23. Lansdell, Henry, Russian Central Asia, Boston, 1885, Vol. I, p. 482.
24. Meakin, Annette M.B., In Russian Turkestan, London, 1903, p. 38

سخنی چند در شرح حال روستای بدراق نوری

 

روستاي بدراق نوري در حدود 15 کيلومتري شمال غربي شهرستان علي آباد کتول واقع شده است. اين روستا با 37 درجه و 3 دقيقه عرض شمالي و 54 درجه و 50 دقيقه طول شرقي از توابع بخش مرکزي اين شهرستان است. بيش از يکصد سال پيش اين روستا توسط طوايف مختلف ترکمن ـ که به صورت انفرادي به دنبال چرا بودند ـ در دشت ترکمن صحرا نباشند.

در شهريور سال 1320 توسط دولت وقت، خيابان بندي شد و در همان زمان نيز مردم را به درختکاري در حاشيه ي خيابان ترغيب و گاهي اجبار کردند ولي با گذشت زمان به حالت کنوني مبدل شد.

 روستا از همان بدو تشکيل به نام طايفه ي تشکيل دهنده ي آن «بدراق» ناميده شد ولي بعدها به دليل ايجاد روستاي ديگري به همين نام با اضافه شدن پسوندي به نام بزرگ روستا ، «نوري»، اسم اين روستا به بدراق نوري مبدل شد.

از آثار قديمي اين روستا اولين چاه بتوني است که به نام اجراي اصل 4 ترومن و براي آموزش ايجاد چاه هاي بتوني در منطقه و به تبع آن، استفاده از موتور آب براي کشاورزان در آن زمان حفر شد و در حال حاضر به صورت مخروبه اي موجود است.

جمعيت اين روستا براساس سرشماري نفوس و مسکن سال 1375 حدود 2 هزار و 267 نفر است و از ارديبهشت 82، عاشر بدراق نژاد 57 ساله که اولين تحصيل کرده ي روستا و مدير بازنشسته ي آموزش و پرورش است، دهيار اين روستا شد. در شرايط بهره سه طايفه سارچال، شورا ، گوجی و...بدراق نوري در آن ساکن هستند آب شرب، برق، تلفن، خانه ي بهداشت و زمين فوتبال که جديداً حصارکشي آن به پايان رسيده است ، برخي از امکانات رفاهي اين روستاست.

همچنين طرح هادي روستا با قول مساعد بخشداري مرکزي و نماينده ي مردم علي آباد در مجلس شوراي اسلامي در حال اجراست. شغل اصلي ساکنين اين روستا کشاورزي است و مهمترين محصولات آنها شامل گندم، جو، پنبه، شالي و مقدار کمي صيفي جات است.

هرچند در سال هاي اخير با تعامل اعضاي شورا و دهياري، امکانات رفاهي نسبي در روستا فراهم شده است ولي هنوز هم مشکلاتي باقي مانده ، روستاييان اعتقاد دارند فاصله زياد روستا از مرکز شهرستان و نزديکي به حوزه ي استحفاظي شهرستان گنبد کاووس باعث شده که بخشي از امکانات هنوز از اين شهرستان فراهم شود و اين خود دليل بزرگي است براي مشکلات ماندگار روستا، در هر صورت ساکنان روستاي بدراق نوري در انتظار ارتقاء امکانات رفاهي روستايشان هستند.