Turkmen carpet

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Turkmen carpets from a German collection. From left to right: Tekke Turkmen tent tape fragment, top center a Tekke Torba (tent bag) from the “Smith Group”. Including an extremely rare Tekke Torba with 15 Göls. Including a Tekke- Ensi . To the right of this is a fragment of the Salor's ribbon. Outside on the right an early Tekke main carpet, probably from before 1800.

Turkmen carpets belong to the group of oriental carpets and are made by Turkmen tribes who live in the area between the Amu Darya River, Caspian Sea , Aral Sea and in the border area between the modern states of Iran and Afghanistan . Traditionally they knot carpets and small-format knotted fabrics in different sizes such as main carpets ( Halı ), curtains for the tent entrance ( Ensi or Hatschlu ), and other household items such as frames for the tent entrance ( Khalyk or Kapunuk ), tent bags ( Torba ), large containers ( Tschowal ) , smaller bags ( Mafrasch ), saddlebags ( Khordschin ), decorative blankets for animals ( Asmalyk ), and tent straps.

historical overview

The history of Turkmenistan is marked by migrations, alliances, tribal wars and even the violent extermination of entire tribes. Our knowledge of the history of the Turkmen tribes and their migrations, as well as the characteristics of their specific structures and patterns, allows us to assign a carpet or other knotted fabric to a certain tribe and a certain section of its history. The variety of colors and ornaments as well as their possible symbolic meaning is the subject of extensive, often controversial research.

In the visual arts of the Turkmen, many archaic patterns survived into the early 20th century. The original Turkmens were an ancient, Persian- speaking people in the steppes of western Central Asia. Their tribal military organization probably goes back to the influences of the Huns . Turkish influence came with the Hephthalites in the 6th century AD and, to a greater extent, with the immigration of the Oghuz in the 9th and 10th centuries. The original population went into the Oghuz and became Islamic. The Mongol storm in the 13th century led to the destruction of cities and agricultural irrigation systems, and threw the Turkmens back into the nomadic way of life they have maintained throughout their later history. The Turkmen nomads lived in the border area between more powerful states such as the Persian Empire , Khorezmia , and the Uzbek Khanate . More independent than their neighbors, they were able to preserve much of their traditional culture. During the 19th century, the Turkmen came under the rule of the Russian Empire . After the end of the Soviet Union , the former Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic became the independent state of Turkmenistan .

Material and colors

Two Turkmens on a main carpet ( "Halı" ) with the Tekke-Göl (approx. 1905-1915)

The wool of Turkmen carpets, typical of nomadic knotted fabrics, is of high quality and has a long pile. Sheep wool, goat hair and cotton are used in the base fabric. The pile is made of wool and sometimes contains silk. In almost all Turkmen carpets madder is from madder the dominant color. Madder was obtained locally and allows different degrees of coloration. The different strains colored in different shades of red. The predominant use of madder red in Turkmen carpets creates a monotonous impression at first glance, but the smaller ornaments are woven in a variety of colors.

Turkmen carpets can be knotted with both symmetrical and asymmetrical knots , the latter opening to the right or left. Irregular knots are also common, including skipped warp threads, knots over three or four, and individual warp threads, or knots tied over a common warp thread, again in a symmetrical or asymmetrical knot. The warp threads are often deeply staggered. The pile, warp and weft are usually very balanced. The ratio of horizontal to vertical nodes is often close to 1: 1. Carpets that are knotted in this way are very dense and durable.

Patterns and ornaments

The most important pattern in Turkmen carpets is the "gul" , a medallion-like polygonal pattern which is arranged in rows across the entire field. The individual tribes each used special gul, which are therefore of heraldic importance. In general, main or primary “Göl” are differentiated from secondary, less complicated “Gül” , with “Gul” being the generic term for this type of ornament. Different gul were used on specific types of carpets or household items. Main carpets usually show the main gol of the tribe, while special gul appear on the tent curtains or bags.

The main göl on Turkmen carpets include:

  • Gülli or Guschli-Göl: Lobed Göl that includes a square ornament from which three three-leaved stalked Striezel emerge in each quarter. This göl was used by the Tekke, Salor and Ersari, and sometimes also by the Saryk. "Gülli" means "flower" in Turkmen , "Guschli" (derived from "Kusch" or "Ghusch") means "bird".
  • Tauk-Nuska -Göl: Quartered and with diagonally opposite colors, each quarter of the Göl shows two stylized animals. The Göl was used by many tribes, mainly the Arabachi, Chodor, some groups of Yomuds and Ersari, including the Kizil Ayak.
  • Tekke -Göl: Derived from Gülli-Göl. The Göl is set at the intersections of a dark blue grid that covers the carpet field and divides each Göl into four diagonally oppositely colored sections. The three-leaf stalk ornaments of the Gülli-Göl are stylized into arrow-like ornaments in the Tekke-Göl.
  • Saryk -Göl: Similar to Tekke-Göl, but not arranged on a grid. It is often found on the main Saryk carpets and is also known as “chowal” oil because it is also used on large bags (“ chowal ”).
  • Dyrnak -Göl - literally "comb" oil. Diamond-shaped Göl with rows of hooks pointing outwards that look like combs. opposite rows of hooks are kept in the same color. A Göl of the Yomuden tribe.
  • Kepse -Göl: Diamond-shaped Göl mainly used by the Yomuds, surrounded by two-colored battlements.
  • "Eagle" oil: At least two, if not three groups of carpets are characterized by this Göl pattern, which has not yet been attributed to a specific tribe.
  • “C” oil: octagon within an octagon, filled with small patterns that resemble the letter “C”.

It is believed that the union of the Saloren , consisting mainly of the actual Saloren and the Saryk, originally comes from the Amudarya Valley and the oases of southern Turkmenistan, including Merws . They used light red tones from madder. The typical Salor-Göl has the shape of a lobed rosette, is divided into an upright cross shape and filled with smaller motifs. Its four central quarters are colored in diagonally opposed colors. This style of coloring is also known as "Central Asian". The Göl are arranged on the field in such a way that they seem to "swim" on them and give the impression of diagonal movement.

Another group of Turkmen carpets was referred to by L. Mackie and J. Thompson as the "S group" and recognized as products of the Saloren. The carpets of the “S group” are knotted asymmetrically to open to the left. The warp threads are ivory-colored, alternating deeply, the weft threads are made of two-strand twisted brown wool, sometimes also dyed red. Its pile is less dense than that of other Turkmen carpets, but it is quite high. Sometimes silk was used, but rarely cotton. The red color is mostly madder red, but lac and other cochineal colors have also been detected. Older Saryk carpets are often tied with symmetrical knots.

Tekke carpets are characterized by the Tekke-Göl. They are asymmetrical and usually knotted opening to the right. The warp threads are seldom deeply staggered. Madder red, more rarely cochineal red, were used for dyeing, and synthetic colors were also used from the 19th century. The warp threads are often made of ivory colored yarn with a large amount of ivory colored goat hair. The edges are fastened with dark blue thread.

Yomuden carpets have a similar structure, with even less staggered warp threads. The red field color of the Yomudic carpets is more subdued, with a brown tint. The knots are asymmetrical, opening to the left. Typical Göl are “Dyrnak” and “Kepse” oil.

The most common field color of the Chaudyr carpets is a purple maroon. The color white is more prominent, also light and dark blue, green and yellow. The warp threads are made of dark wool, the weft threads are often made of white cotton. The knot is asymmetrically opening to the right, which means that Chaudyr carpets can be distinguished from the otherwise very similar Yomud carpets. You can often see the Tauk-Nuska-Göl.

Other tribes that weave carpets are the Arabachi, Ersari, and Beschiri.

Commercialization and revival of tradition

During the 19th century, carpets in the Turkmen tradition were produced commercially in Russia and Afghanistan and were exported under the trade name “Buchara carpets”. The colors and the quality of the material and the patterns did not come close to the traditional knots. With the end of the Soviet Union, independent nation-states emerged from the former Soviet republics, which today endeavor to revive the traditional culture of carpet-knotting, often with hand-spun wool dyed with natural colors.

literature

  • Valentina G. Moshkova: Carpets of the people of Central Asia of the late XIX and XX centuries. Edited and translated by George W. O'Bannon and Ovadan K. Amanova-Olsen. Photography by Gary McKinnis. GW O'Bannon, Tucson AZ 1996, ISBN 0-9653421-0-7 (translation from: Валентина Г. Мошкова: Ковры народов Средней Азии конца XIX .
  • Robert Pinner, Murray L. Eilland jr .: Between the Black Desert and the Red. Turkmen carpets from the Wiedersperg collection. (Published on the occasion of an Exhibition Between the Black Desert and the Red - Turkmen Carpets from the Wiedersperg Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, MH De Young Memorial Museum, December 18, 1999 - June 25, 2000). Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco CA 1999, ISBN 0-88401-099-6 .
  • Elena Tsareva: Turkmen Carpets. Masterpieces of Steppe Art, from 16th to 19th Centuries. The Hoffmeister Collection. Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-89790-342-5 (English / German).

Gallery: Turkmen carpets

  • Yomut camel blanket (" Asmalyk "), Turkmenistan, 18th – 19th centuries . Century, 75 × 124 cm

  • Asmalyk, Yomuden

  • Yomut tent door (" Ensi " or " Hatschlu ")

  • Russian "Bukhara" carpet with a pattern in the Turkmen style

  • Russian "Bukhara" carpet with a pattern in the Turkmen style

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antique Collectors' Club: Oriental Rugs. Volume 5: Uwe Jourdan: Turkoman. Oriental Textile Press, Woodbridge 1989, ISBN 1-85149-136-8 .
  2. ^ A b Robert Pinner, Murray L. Eilland jr .: Between the Black Desert and the Red. 1999.
  3. ↑ a b c d Elena Tsareva: Turkmen Carpets. 2011.
  4. ↑ К. Атаев: Некоторые данные по этнографии туркмен-шихов. In: Труды Института истории, археологии и этног рафии академия наук Туркменской ССР. Vol. 7, 1963, ZDB -ID 306065-2 , pp. 77-78, ( some ethnographic data on the Turkmen shiks. ).
  5. ↑ a b Akbar S. Ahmed, David M. Hart (eds.): Islam in tribal societies. From the Atlas to the Indus. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London et al. 1984, ISBN 0-7100-9320-9 .
  6. ↑ a b Valentina G. Moshkova: Carpets of the people of Central Asia of the late XIX and XX centuries. 1996.
  7. ↑ George W. O'Bannon: The Turkoman carpet. Duckworth, London 1974.
  8. ^ A b Louise W. Mackie, Jon Thompson (Eds.): Turkmen, Tribal Carpets and Traditions. The Textile Museum, Washington DC 1980.
  9. ↑ a b Anette Rautenstengel, Volker Rautenstengel, Ali Pakbin: Studies on the carpet culture of the Turkmen. A. Rautenstengel, Hilden 1990, ISBN 3-9802596-0-9 .
  10. ^ Kurt Munkacsi: Dividing the Chaudor. In: Hali. No. 26, 1994, ISSN  0142-0798 , pp. 96-107.