A modern Turkman, mounted one of the famed Akhal-Teke horses,

sits before the framework of the traditional Yurt dwelling

Chapter 8 ... Turkmen, Afghan & Baluchi Rugs

Because of their essentially shared geography and for simplification, this

chapter includes the rugs of Afghanistan and the Baluchi along with those of the

Turkmen. It should be noted that Baluchi rugs are the work of once-nomadic peoples

based around the northern Iran-Afghan borders, in Afghanistan itself, as well as in

Turkmenistan and the Punjab. The people of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan,

which borders southeastern Iran, have no significant tradition of piled rug production

although they do weave kilims and other non-piled artifacts.

Turkman rugs in the Ashkabad market

The Turkmen Allowing for modern, mostly forced migrations, the area of Central Asia that

most concerns the oriental rug enthusiast comprises the former Soviet states of

Turkmenistan (independent since 1991) lying to the east of the Caspian, Uzbekistan to its

east and north of Afghanistan, and Karakalpakstan which lies south-east of the Aral Sea.

These are the traditional homelands of the various tribal groupings generically known as

the Turkmen. The land is one of vast steppes and deserts dotted here and there with

important oases, around which grew such fabled cities as Bokhara and Samarkand, vastly

important on the ancient caravan routes of the Silk Road between China and

Constantinople.

Despite being squeezed between the historic advances of the Mongol hordes and

the Persians, the Turkmen remained essentially true to their territories and pastoral

nomadic lifestyle until relatively modern times. Then the ever-present search for grazing

and water caused much inter-tribal conflict as first one group and then another took the

major oasis areas around Merv, Bokhara, Samarkhand etcetera. Thus, for example, the

Salor Turkmen, possibly the oldest of the tribes, were subjugated by the Tekke and forced

to migrate to the territories they occupy now.

The occupation of their territories by the Russian Soviets in the 1920s and

1930s forced them more and more of the Turkmen tribes into settlements and collectives

as well as to seek refugee status elsewhere. Today most of the ethnic Turkmen, some 4,5

million of whom live in Turkmenistan, have largely given up the nomadic lifestyle,

although those who live in Iran's northern Khorasan region and in Afghanistan are more

traditionalist and retain their links with animal husbandry. Official estimates put the

numbers of ethnic Turkmen who were forced to become refugees in the Northwest

Frontier areas of Pakistan as well over 60,000, although the true figure is probably much

higher. Their designs have strongly influenced Pakistani rug production since that

country's birth.

Regardless of the many cultural influences and upheavals to which they have

been exposed, and not forgetting that they in their turn have shaped other cultures, for

example the notable similarity of language and lifestyle between them and the peasant

peoples of Turkey and parts of Iran, the Turkmen have retained certain major

characteristics in their rugs which clearly place them in a group of their own. A group

which is strikingly easy to attribute.

The thing which immediately typifies a Turkmen rug is its distinctive Gul motif,

which, even allowing for variations from tribe to tribe, is almost totally unique to this group of

rugs. It may have been borrowed or adapted by neighbouring cultures, but see a gul and think

Turkman. One other feature is the almost total dominance of deep madder-based reds in their

colouring.This may shade towards brown in some Yomud work, but overall the Turkman rugs

have familiarly been known as 'The Red Rugs' in the trade.

The Gul. Here shown in its main and minor forms on a Tekke rugAuthor's collection

Although often given fanciful names such as 'Elephant Foot' or 'Camel Foot' the

truth is that the origins of the gul as a motif are lost in time. It is most probable that it

evolved simply as a stylised floral medallion, with some scholars drawing the comparison

with the Persian word, “gul”, meaning flower. Others, influenced by the detailed studies

of the Russian academic V G Moshkava, talk of the gul having a totemic significance,

each tribe maintaining its own special designs. Supporters of this hypothesis point to the

fact that when the Salor were first defeated by the Saryk and they in their turn by the

Tekke, the traditional Salor gul disappeared (until modern weavings) from that tribes'

work and instead became a feature on some of the Tekke's own weavings.

Whether or not this is true, it has to be said that many of the traditional gul

designs have been passed from tribe to tribe. Conquest is not necessarily a determining

factor here. Inter-tribal marriage, although not common, must have played a part, as must

have plain common or garden market forces. If the major rug dealers noted that Tribe Xs

designs were easier to move on than Tribe Ys, it is not unreasonable to supposed that they

would have persuaded Ys weavers to adapt or borrow from X. Consider too that the

ladies who actually did the weaving would have noted and admired other designs which

they saw in the markets, and quite simply borrowed them.

On the subject of fanciful names, the term 'Bokhara' and its derivations 'Royal

Bokhara' and 'Princess Bokhara' has long been misapplied to rugs bearing the Turkmen

gul design, especially to the rugs of the Tekke Turkmens. The city of Bokhara is not a

recognised rug-making centre at all, but rather has long been one of the very most

important gathering places for Central Asian rugs In its most basic form the gul consists of an octagon divided into light and dark

coloured quarters, which has in its centre another polygonal shape from which depend or

around which are arranged minor decorations. Some tribes outline the basic gul with

multiple star points or the latch hook design. The guls are arranged formally into

columns and rows or else as a lattice in the field of the rug, with smaller geometric

shapes or minor guls filling the spaces. These minor guls may take the form of stylised

stars, crosses, polygons or even a tarantula-like motif.

As has been stated above, the ground colour of the true Turkmen rug ( not the

frequent Pakistani copies ) is most often a lovely deep madder red. Sometimes a browner

rug will be found, and rarer still one with a deep, almost black, indigo ground. This

ground colour is used in both field and borders. The major guls are highlighted on this

ground colour in white or cream and a deep indigo or black, opposing quadrants of the

motif using the same colour scheme. Minor guls are generally picked out against the

ground colour in paler shades of an orange-red, white and blue-black. These same

essential colour schemes are then taken out into the borders.

Although larger main carpet sizes called khali do exist, since Turkman rugs were

made for personal use within the yurt or on the animals of the weavers themselves, sizes

tend to be smallish, around 6ft 6in x 4ft 6in being typical. Again, because traditionally

Turkman weaving was for utilitarian use by a nomadic people, a variety of now highly

collectible artifacts was made. These include the ensi (yurt entrance covers), jolani (tent

bands), the chuval, torba and mafrash (variously sized bags) as well as the lovely

asmalyks (animal trappings)

The quality of materials, traditionally wool perhaps mixed with goat hair, is

normally excellent and hardwearing. Although cotton and even silk may be found in

most of the range of Turkmen works, these materials seldom appear in those of the

Yomud.

Dyestuffs are organic and unless seriously maltreated, colourfast. The

asymmetrical knot is used in most Tekke, Ersari, Salor and Chodor pieces (but not

invariably), whilst the Saryk and Yomud generaly use the symmetrical knot. Knotting

density ranges from around 80 to 300 or even more knots to the square inch.

The Madrasah Khanaka, Bokhara

The Major Turkmen tribes: and their guls

The Tekke The Tekke are among the most powerful and important tribes of Turkmenistan.

They live in the area between Ashkabad and Merv along the Iranian-Afghan border. As

mentioned earlier, it is mostly Tekke weavings that are given the misnomer Bokhara, and

it is probably this group of Turkmen rugs which are best known and popular in the West.

The Tekke main and minor guls (detail)Author's collection

Another common minor gul of the Tekkes is a cruciform shape with hooked

ends with a cross running diagonally through its centre ( often called a 'Tarantula' ).

Borders are filled with beautifully drawn geometric shapes and/or highly stylised floral

motifs.

The rugs of the Tekke are tightly knotted, perhaps up to 300 or more asymetrical

knots to the square inch, and they have a closely cropped pile which does justice to the

finely executed designs. Warps are typically of a creamy coloured wool, whilst the

double weft shoots are of brown wool. Selvedges are most usually wrapped with a deep

blue-black wool. The ground colour of Tekke pieces is most often in shades of madder

red, ranging from light through brownish red up to an almost purple colour. Other

colours used in the designs are limited to different shades of red, blues, browns, ivory and

white. Very occasionally highlighting may be achieved with yellow or green.

The major guls normally form three, four or five columns, the number of rows

depending upon the length of the rug, and they are often joined by a grid of black lines

interconnecting them. Tekke rugs typically have wide kilim ends which are themselves

often highly decorated.

Four more Tekke guls

Sharsh Palak gul Gurbaghe gul

Aina gul Typical Juval gul

Tekke 'Flag border Tekke Kochanak border

Very fine Tekke rug, about 280 kpsiAuthor's collection

The Yomud The Yomud (or Yomut) are another important Turkmen tribe who are found in

the area north of Bokhara and further west along the eastern shores of the Caspian. Their

rugs rank equally in importance of production and design with the Tekke.

Their major guls take more than one form, the more important of which are the

Kepse, the Dyrnak and the Tauk Nuska, all of which are used in Yomud main rugs. The

Kepse is a flattened diamond made up of of stylised flowers, arranged in lattice form to

fill the field with no minor ornamentation. The Dyrnak design is essentially a flattened

diamond shape outlined with latch hooks and terminating on its horizontal axis with

slightly elongated hooked stems. These again are arranged in the field as an all-over

lattice with no minor guls. Borders of Yomud rugs are relatively narrow but made up of

artistically stylised floral motifs.

The Kepse Gul The Dyrnak Gul

Four common Yomud Guls

The Tauk Nuska Gul The Juval Gul

The so-called Eagle design which may be found

decorating the elem (skirt) of Yomud chuvals or other bags

Examples of Yomud borders

Older Yomud piled work often used undyed goat hair mixed with wool for their

warps, while more recent pieces may well use cotton. Their double wefts may be of

natural wool, camel hair, cotton or a mixture. Selvedges are normally 2-cord double

wrapped in a deep blue wool. Normally, symmetric knots are used at a density of

between120 and 220 knots to the square inch, but it is not unknown for the Yomud to use

the asymmetric knot. Although Yomud work can be generally distinguished from that of

the Tekke by the use of a far browner shade of red in the field, the Yomud also use a far

wider palette overall with whites, yellows, shades of blue and even green appearing.

Old Yomud Juval bag faceAuthor's collection

The Ersari Although many scholars of the Turkmen claim that nowadays the Ersari no

longer exist as a cohesive tribe, in rug collecting terms we may consider them as having

been based in the Khanate of Bokhara, now part of Uzbekhistan, or around the village of

Kizil-Ayak in southern Turkmenistan near the Zeid Reservoir. Nowadays the majority of

the Ersari are refugees from Afghanistan who have settled in Pakistan. The Barakat Ersari

Cultural Survival project, established in northern Pakistan by Chris Walters in 1988,

continues the entirely laudable goal of helping these refugees, educating their children,

and encouraging them to preserve their long heritage of rug making skills.

Although these days the rugs normally found fall into two main categories, the

Erari-Beshir and Kizil Ayak, the general strucure of older Ersari rugs consisted of

woollen warps, frequently mixed with goat or sheep hair, with knots tied asymmetrically

in wool at 60kpsi or upward. A peculiarity of Ersari weave is that seen from the back the

knots are slightly longer vertically than they are wide. The knots are held in place by

double rows of woollen wefts, normally undyed or grey. The elem skirts are significant

and ususally decorated with red, blue, white or yellow striped patterns.

The Tanghan Gul Ersari Guls The Sulaimani Gul

Two types of Gul found on Juvals

The Ersari-Beshir, or just 'Beshir', group of weavings are productions of

cottage industry or settled town workshops from the general Bokhara area of

Uzbekhistan. In general they are far less rectilinear and more overtly floral in their

treatment of the gul design than those of any other Turkmen tribe, and frequently do not

rely upon the gul at all. The overall colour is a rich brick-red, as opposed to the deep

madder reds used by most other Turkmen, and it is common, but not invariable, to find

much use of a fairly bright yellow in the minor motifs or outlining.

An old (dated 1347 Hegira/1928) Ersari-Beshir

which uses the floral herati pattern.Author's collection

The Kizil-Ayak Ersari rugs from southern Turkmenistan and the Mazar-i-

Sharif area of northern Afghanistan are often referred to by the trade simply as 'Afghan-

Turkmens'. They generally carry somewhat flattened guls of a much greater size than

those of other Turkmen groups.and exhibit a normally restrained palette of deep madder

red and a bluey-black. Borders are multiple, especially in those woven in Afghanistan,

and their artistry almost subjugates the main design field. One typically used gul, the

tanghan gul, has quarters which each bear three highly stylised fruits. Warps are

moderately depressed, giving the rugs a ribby feel and firm handle.

Afghan Ersari Kizil-Ayak rug from about 1970 Author's collection

Although a few rare and antique examples are associated with the Yomud, the

Prayer Rug or Namaslyk, is not a normal part of Turkmen weaving, but the Ersari prove

the exception to this rule. Both the Beshir and Kizil-Ayak groups of the Ersari have

produced some very fine examples of the namaslyk, almost certainly due to their longer

exposure to Persian Islamic influence in the Khanate of Bokhar.

The prayer rugs of the Kizil-Ayak area are generally quite architectural in

design, clearly showing the domes and minarets of mosques, or the hanging lanterns of

the mosque in their mihrab. Their palette normally follows the typical madder reds, deep

blues with white or cream highlighting of detail.

Antique, and more modern, examples of Kizil-Ayak Prayer Rugs

The one at left dated 1337 Herira or 1918 in the Western calendarBoth, Author's collection

The Beshir prayer rug however, follows a far different schema: Boldly

coloured, the typical design shows a red-ground mihrab set within a white mihrab. Each

of these mihrabs if crammed with tiny floral motifs picked out in a contrasting colour,

and each of the mihrabs bears a form of 'topknot', which in its turn is surmounted by a

bold ram's horn finial. The effect is dramatic, and quite different in style to prayer rugs

from elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Superb example of an Ersari-Beshir prayer rug

The Chaudor

Following their earlier migration from Kazakhstan south to the Khanate of

Khiva, the Chaudor were successively weakened by conflict and then more or less

absorbed into the greater Yomud tribe. Following the Sovietisation of the region in the

earlier 1920s the much reduced Chaudor regained some degree of independence from the

Yomud and split into two main groups. One remnant of the tribe now lives along the

Amu Darya river just below the Aral Sea in Karakalpakstan, while the other live with

groups of the Ersari and Salor as neighbours near Beshir in Uzbekhistan.

Surprisingly, many of their earlier works, which often resemble the Yomud,

have survived and command a high price in the Western market. Sadly, however, much

of laterChaudor production is inferior, far coarser in construction, often lumpy and

uneven in appearance. One other factor which, to some, detracts from the aesthetic of

Chaudor work is its use of very dark ground colours; their 'brownish-reds' are almost dark

chocolate.

Apart from sharing the Tauk Nuska gul with the Yomud, the Chaudor gul mostly

seen is the Ertman. This may be used, very effectively, in a diagonally repeated manner

which differs from mainstream Turkmen works.

Chaudor Tauk Naksa Gul Chaudor Ertman Gul

Chaudor Ak Su Gul

Construction of the older rugs was piled with strong, somewhat rough wool on

woollen warps, held with double wefts of cotton or a wool-cotton mixture. The

asymmetric knot was tied at about 120 kpsi. Chaudor rugs frequently have a wide extra

skirt at both ends of the rug. Since the late 19th century Chaudor weaving has often

evolved into work where even the pile may be of cotton, tied onto cotton at a lowish knot

count. The handle of Chaudor pieces tends to be rather lifeless and floppy.

Antique Chaudor rug with diagonally-latticed ertman guls

Courtesy Messrs Meyer-Mûller,Zurich

The Salor Believed to to be one of the oldest of all the Turkmen tribes, the Salor or Salyr

as they were earlier named, were one of the tribes of the Oghuz Turks in 14th century

Transoxiana. Part of the tribe settle in Anatolia, but the Central Asian branch which

mainly concerns us here, saw their territory eroded in conflict with the Persian Qajars,and

in the nineteenth century by the Saryk and then the Tekke Turkmen..

One group now lives near Bokhara and another in Afghanistan along the Amu

Darya river. Some scholars believe that most of the works attributed to the Salor were

made prior to their military defeat by the ruling Qajars in the mid-19th century. Although

others disagree, it has to be said that all of the known Salor rugs would seem to pre-date

the use of aniline dyes. Whatever the case, true Salor pieces are rare and costly.

Although seldom found in the ground of their main rugs, perhaps the best known

Salor gul is the ‘’Turreted’’ gul which decorated their fine chuvals. This gul is an

octagon whose outline is made up of twenty-four triangles or star points terminating in

double-hooked stems. Inside this outline are two compartments, the outer of which is

again outlined in hooked star points. The inner compartment is a rectangle which

contains a quartered shape using alternate colours similar to the Tekke. The field around

the major guls is, as in most Turkman work, filled with minor guls.

It should be noted that the turreted gul is frequently borrowed by other Turkmen

groups, as well as Pakistani rug-makers. Since both the major and minor guls of the

Salor are drawn quite boldly their numbers in the field are perhaps fewer than in Tekke

rugs but otherwise the general arrangement is similar.

The rugs are made of good quality wool throughout, are closely cropped, and

are fine, with an asymmetric knot count approaching 300 knots to the square inch. The

warps are either grey-brown or an ivory colour, whilst the weft may be brown or red. It is

a characteristic of Salor work that alternate wefts are quite severely depressed, giving a

marked ribbed effect when viewing anjd feeling the back of these pieces.

Whilst the pile is generally of wool, in a palette resembling that of the Tekke, it

is sometimes possible to find silk highlighting of Salor motifs. Borders are generally

simple, consisting of three fairly narrow stripes containing small geometric figures The

selvedges are generally wrapped in a dark blue or dark green wool but one can find them

in a two coloured check pattern. The warp ends of Salor work may be of coloured

flatweave often with applied coloured fringes

. Turreted Gul used on Juvals A Minor gul for field or border

Four types of Salor Gul

The Gul-I-Gul used on main rugs Major & Minor Juval guls

Typical Salor borders

Antique (circa 1890s) Salor rug which uses the turreted gul

The SarykThe Saryk, who mostly inhabit the area east of the Murghab river near the

Afghan border and in Afghanistan itself, were historically one of the clans of the Oghuz.

In the early 19th century they defeated the Salor in one of the perennial disputes over

grazing land and water, but were themselves beaten by the stronger Tekke.

Their early rugs generally exhibited a bright orangey-red field and were made of

wool on wool with none of the cotton or silk which appears in later production. The

major guls of these earlier works are noted for the softer colouring too. The pile was

almost exclusively tied in the symmetrical knot. Later work shows a move away from

these lighter tones, with the field becoming more brownish in hue. Knotting can be either

symmetric or asymmetric, and cotton or even silk may be found in the pile.

More modern Saryk weaving has become perhaps even more sombre with deep

blue or dark brown-red field colours. To the purist these modern rugs have degenerated to

the extent that one often finds cotton used for the white parts of the design, and whereas

earlier work shows the warps on a level, modern weavings exhibit a progressively deeper

degree of warp depression. This makes for a heavier, less flexible handle.

Three main turreted Saryk guls and a juval gul

In general terms Saryk weaving uses woollen warps while the double wefts may

be wool or cotton, coloured ivory but more often grey or brown. Knotting density varies

from around 100 kpsi up to 250 in the finest work. The end skirt may be decorated in

weft-faced plain weave. Whilst the Saryk share with the Salor a frequent use of the

turreted gul form, this is not exclusive to these two groups. It is occasionally used by

others, notably by the Tekke. Those Saryk pieces which are more directly influenced by

Afghan designs use a large stepped octagon, usually quite plain, as the major gul and an

equally simple hooked cruciform as the minor gul.

A later period Saryk rugAuthor's collection

Other Turkman Weaving

Ensis, Hatchlis, Gapylyks and Jolamis

The ensi comprise a particular group of highly prized special purpose rugs and

weavings used by the Turkmen to protect and decorate their yurt entrances. Some

Turkmen scholars state that it was used inside the tent doorway only on special occasions,

such as marriage ceremonies, and that normally the doorway was protected by felt flaps.

Whatever its origins The ensi is a quite large, square format piled rug, strikingly

distinctive in that it generally has a cross-quartered basic design (less often a two-

compartmented design) which is clearly and boldly delineated.

Both within the compartments and surrounding them the various tribal groups

use their individual motifs as decoration, although it must be stressed that over the years

there has been much borrowing from tribe to tribe. One motif which seems however to

be common, and important, is that of the candelabra. The ensi is always very tightly

knotted as befits a rug whose job is to keep the cold and the dust of the steppes out of the

yurt.

Confusingly, the Turkmen make another type of square rug which utilises

exactly similar quartered designs. This is the Hatchli (or hatchlu). Many past writers

have confused the hatchli and the ensi or lumped them as one, but clearly the hatchli is

smaller in format and is most often distinguished by showing a clearly defined mihrab-

style arch at the top of its cross-quarted field. However, recent scholarship would seem

to deny any a religious significance to this apparent mihrab. Religious significance or

not, these rugs are lovingly and skilfully made.

Another Turkmen artifact is associated with the yurt entrance is the Gapylyk.

This narrow three-sided piled weaving is hung across the inside of the yurt entrance.

Often found with tassels or braids hanging down it may serve as some form of flyscreen

as well as being decorative. It has also been suggested that the gapylyk, attached to the

arch mounted on the camel's back, served to screen the Turkmen maiden during her

bridal procession.

Rarely seen in the West but highly collectible are the Turkmen yurt bands or

Jolami. Originally designed for the purely utilitarian purpose of holding together the

main structure of the yurt, these artefacts have evolved into objects of great decorative

value. What is at its most basic a long (50 feet or so) narrow band of material is turned by

the skill and love of the Turkmen women weavers into an object of real beauty. Jolami

may be piled or flat-woven with embroiderie. They are used in conjunction with a plain,

usually white, flat-wovenn strap called an ak yup (white girth).

Antique Yomud Ensi Very fine antique Tekke HatchliAll Author's collection

Modern Afghan Tekke Gapylyk

Bags and Trappings

No discussion of Turkmen rugs is complete without discussing this range of very

fine and lovingly made “utility” pieces. These include not only various sized and shaped

carrying or storage bags but beautiful animal trappings as well. There can be little doubt

that, at least in the past, the quality of woven and knotted textiles for use within the

family unit would have been used by the whole tribe to judge the skill of the weaver, and

for a bride-to-be would have formed an important part of her dowry.

Juval (Chuval)

This is a large oblong bag, open on one long side, some 4 to 5 feet in length

and perhaps 3 feet deep which the Turkmen use to store or carry bedding or clothing.

The Turkman juval is of course equivalent to the Chuval of Iran and Turkey, but in those

regions it is more commonly used to store grain or flour, and opens on one short side.

Although used singly, Juvals are normally made as joined pairs. The normally

piled face of the bag is very finely knotted in designs which use the particular tribe's

especial juval guls, whilst the back is normallly in plain weave. Most older juvals have

quite wide, decorated elim skirt. Juvals are highly collectible and command a high price.

Very fine old Tekke juval which uses the turreted gul designCourtesy Mrs J. King

Very fine Yomud Juval with plain elem, 4ft 6in x 2ft 9in Author’s collection

The juval shown on the previous page, whilst using typically Salor turreted guls

and even Salor minor decorative elements, is far too modern to be a true Salor. The lack

of any pronounced weft depression on the back of the piece is also against it being a

Salor, and the restrained palette and other characteristics point to a Tekke attribution. The

Yomud bag, above, is very finely knotted at something like 280 kpsi. It may have been

'gold washed' to produce the colours shown.

Torbas

Smaller in format than the juval (about 3' 6”by 18 inches) the torba or tent bag

is again woven in pairs but used singly. They are mostly pile-faced bags with flat-woven

backs, opening on a longer side and are used for a variety of utility purposes, but also as

decorative items hanging inside the yurt when empty. Most if not all torba had long

decorative fringes. The chenche-torba is small and used for transporting basic utensils,

the at-torba is an animal nose-bag, and the dis-torba is a salt bag.

An old Tekke torba, with a Yomud torba below

Both, sadly, have had their decorative fringes removed.Author's collection

Asmalyk

Draught animals are obviously of high importance to nomadic tribes so

unsurprisingly the Turkmen lavished great care and pride in the camel and horse

decorations which they produced. Perhaps the most striking of these are the asmalyks,

pairs of (normally) 5-sided trappings made to adorn the flanks of the bride’s camel

during the wedding procession or on other great festivities. They may be embroidered or

have piled faces, and are especially associated with the Tekke, Ersari and Yomud tribes.

At-Djoli

The at-djoli is a special occasion covering for the Turkman's all-important horse

(one imagines that in everyday use the animal would have a basic felt blanket). Polygonal

in shape, beautifully decorated and generally with showy fringes, the at-djoli of the

Yomud are very collectible.

Tainachka

Tainachka are made to decorate the breast of the Turkmen horses and camels,

and various other weavings are made to serve as girths, headbands, kneebands and so on.

A Yomud At-djoli horse cover

Courtesy Henry's Auktionhaus

The camel is justifiably proud in its finery

Afghan Rugs

Afghan rugs are mostly made in the northern part of that country around the

centres of Herat, Daulatabad, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz. They have been heavily

influenced by Turkmen designs and colour schemes, particularly those of the Ersari.

However, as the peoples who made make up the bulk of the population of

Afghanistan settled into villages and townships their rugs became larger and heavier than

the nomad pieces. This is even reflected in the depiction of the Afghan gul, which is

drawn many times bigger and often with less detail than the tribal guls.

Old Afghan Filip Poi or “Elephant’s Foot” carpet, 12ft 6in x 8ft 9inAuthor’s collection

Following the 1980 invasion of the country by the Russians some 3 million

people fled across the border into huge refugee camps in Pakistan. Even when the

Russians pulled out of Afghanistan there was a period of internal fighting between

various warlords, with this in turn followed by the harshness of the Taliban regime, and

the intervention by Western powers as once again Afghanistan sees itself the gaol in yet

another round of “The Great Game”.

Not surprisingly the majority of Afghan, and for that matter Turkmen, rugs now

on sale in the West comes from the refugees, in the form of rugs which they carried with

them as well as those still being produced in and marketed through Pakistan.

Afghan Village weavers

Despite, or possibly due to, its emabattled past the rugs of Afghanistan have

been known to the West for much longer than those of other Central Asian groups.

Indeed, with their restrained colours and formal designs they were a favourite

'gentleman's' carpet of Victorian times.

This exposure to an export market invariably led to certain degradations to the

traditional works, with many otherwise fine pieces, especially with those sent to the

United States, being chemically washed to produce an old-gold or a pale rose colouring.

The buyer presumably thought that this made the rug appear 'antique', but in fact

chemical treatments often produce a totally false-looking piece as well as drastically

reducing its life-expectancy.

Despite having some of the finest sheep breeds in the world Afghan rugs are

often knotted in a hardwearing but strangely lustreless wool on a warp mix of wool and

goat hair. Although very tightly compacted by heavily beaten wefts, the knot count

seldom exceeds 100 or so knots to the square inch because the foundation and pile

threads are so thickly spun.

Although general factors such as the larger sizes, heavy weight and handle

make it relatively simple to tell Turkmen-design Afghan rugs (the so-called Afghan

Bokhara) from the Turkmen originals, there is one other distinguishing factor – the

increased number of guard striped and borders. The best of the village-loomed Afghan

pieces are especially appealing due to the skilful patterning in these multiple borders.

Afghan multiple borders detail

An asymetrically-knotted Kunduz Afghan rugAuthor’s collection

Kunduz rugs come from the northern Afghanistan border area with

Uzbekhistan. The Turkman influence is obvious in the 3 Gul design above, but their

oversized treatment and fuzziness of internal treatment is typically Afghan, as is the

border work. Kunduz pieces are tightlywoven using the asymmetric knot, and rugs in a

more overtly Persian style may be found.

Khan Mohammadi rugs bear the name of a very famous Afghan master

weaver and are also made in and around Kunduz.Their palette sticks to the deeper reds

and blue-blacks, although occasionally a more terra-cotta shade is used. Design elements

tend to a more curvilinear, floral version of the gul medallion, made possible by the use

of the asymmetric knot and the fineness of materials. The wool stock for the pile

originates from the northern reaches of Afghanistan, but is often exported to Belgium

where it is machine-spun and then reimported into Afghanistan.

A fine example of a modern Khan Mohammadi Afghan

Kargai

Traditionally made by the Hazara and Pushtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the

rugs now marketed as Kargai date from about the 1980s and it is probable that most are

made by refugees Turkomen in Pakistan. Those that may genuinely be made in the

villages of Afghanistan itself owe the relative fineness to being made on modern steel

looms. The rugs are piled of high quality wool on woollen warps.

Modern Kargai rugCourtesy Henry's Auktionhaus

The Afghan Kazak

The so-called Afghan Kazak is another very modern development influenced in

large part by Pakistani middlemen with an eye to the increasing Western – and it must be

said, Russian, interest in the rugs of The Caucasus. Although pleasing enough in palette

and style, being woven on steel looms they fail to capture the wild and woolly appeal of

the originals.

The Chobi

Again, a type of rug unknown before the 1980s and heavily influenced by

Pakistani dealers, the Afghan Chobi is distinctive in its palette of wood-tones and pale

earthen colours. Such pieces do perhaps have an apeal to fashionable Western interior

designers, but are otherwise rather bland in comparison to the stronger accents of typical

Central Asian work. Surprisingly they are mostly made by Turkmen refugees in the

camps within Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Modern Afghan-Kazak Modern Afghan ChobiBoth Courtesy Henry's Auktionhaus

Afghan War Rugs

Prior to the ongoing attempts to control the Taliban excesses, the last in a long

series of bloody conflicts to affect this strategical important country, that between an

occupying Russian regime and the Afghan mujahadeen or freedom fighters, gave rise to a

whole new genre of rug designs, the so-called Afghan War Rugs.

This group of pictorial rugs which clearly show Soviet Russian jet bombers,

tanks, helicopter gunships or the ubiquitous AK47 carbine were woven in large numbers

by displaced Afghan and Baluchi women in refugee camps across the border in Pakistan.

They have become collectable in spite of --- or perhaps, because of their rather ugly

subject matter and their generally crude palettes of synthetic dyes. Although there was an

initial tendency to view them as cheap refugee works made for export, they have become

more and more collectible, and command amazingly high prices.

As a socio-historic statement this group of rugs remind us of the trauma and

very real suffering directly witnessed by the weavers. The stories told in these rugs are

not legends hidden in the mists of time, they are very much of the modern era.

Afghan-Baluchi War Rug – A statement of our times

The Baluchi

Baluchi nomad woman

The Baluchi are a group of semi-nomadic shepherds whose grazing areas cross

the Iranian-Afghanistan borders and range into Turkmenistan and the Punjab. The people

are of Indo-Aryan origin, and they seem to be first mentioned in the Kerman area of

Persia from whence they were successively driven further northward by the Seljuks, the

Mongols and later the Safavid rulers of Persia. Other groups of the historic Baluchi

migrated south and east and are now found in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

These latter people have, however, no significant tradition of rugmaking except for

producing a range of flatweaves.

Until quite recent times Baluchi rugs were not much known or popular in the

West, because the often sombre palette of this group of rugs had less immediate visual

appeal than the brighter works of Persia and Turkey. Indeed, even the more striking and

generally technically superior works of the Turkmen only became fashionable in the

West in the latter half of the 20th century.

Now, however, there is a genuine interest in and appreciation of tribal works,

and Baluchi rugs have gained an almost equal popularity with the Turkmens.They tend

to follow rectilinear designs of restrained colouring,, and are of a moderate size. They

are for the most part made of good quality materials, and for tribal works are quite

tightly knotted. Like the Turkmens their rather formal designs and unfussy colouring

make them suitable as decoration in almost any room of the modern Western home, but

unlike the Turkmens they may still be purchased at very reasonable prices.

As the tribes have gradually been obliged to settle, two main areas of Baluchi

rug production are marketed; these are the Meshed-Baluch from the Khorasan area of

Iran, and the Herat-Baluch from Afghanistan. The designs of this latter group show

strong Turkmen influences. Some scholars even suggest that it was domination by the

Turkmen which caused the Baluchi to start knotting a pile onto their rugs.

The Meshed group are now made on a cotton foundation, and are of tighter

structure and more artistically drawn than the Herat group. Their design normally

consists of all-over repetitions of small geometric motifs. The Meshed-Baluch range

includes relatively few rugs in payer format. The Herat-Baluch group are still made of

wool throughout, sometimes mixed with goat hair, and quite often use natural undyed

camel wool in the ground. Very finely worked and decorated kilim ends are another

frequent feature of these rugs, as is the number of prayer rugs produced. A frequent

failing of Herat-Baluch rugs is that being constructed on an all-wool foundation they

have a tendency to be mis-shapen.

This apparent fault is quite understandable when one considers that much of the

Herat-marketed work is of nomadic origin which may well have its production

interrupted as the weaver’s group moves in search of fresh pasturage. The horizontal

loom is released from its ground pegs and rolled up with the rug in progress still attached.

On arrival at the new site the loom is staked out again, but it may be tensioned differently

this time, the result being a somewhat barrel-shaped finished piece. This is a factor

common to the rugs of many other nomadic people, and unless the shape is

exaggeratedly off true, should not be thought of as disastrous. It is perhaps, like abraj, an

indicator of the rugs genuinely tribal origins.

The prayer rugs of the Baluch are very attractive pieces and have become highly

collectible and popular in the West. The mihrab of these pieces is sometimes drawn as a

complete depiction of a mosque with its domes and minarets or, in another favoured

prayer design filled with a highly stylised tree-of-life. The arch at the top of the mihrab

is squared off in Baluchi rugs, and usually has decorative spandrels at either side.

Sometimes, especially in the rarer Khorasan area prayer rugs, the spandrels

show obvious hand motifs or Hamsa, and are given the fanciful name of 'Hands of

Fatimah' prayer rugs. It may be that such a design indicates the positioning of the

devotees hands when kneeling in prayer, but this is unlikely given that the correct

position of devotion will have been learned in childhood. The more probable explanation

is that to some people, even of the Islamic faith, the hamsa symbol is a protection against

the evil eye.

Old Baluchi 'Hands of Fatimah' Prayer RugAuthor's collection

Nowadays the free movement of the Baluchi has been severely curtailed. As

they have settled their rug patterns have tended to be more and more influenced by those

of their neighbours. This factor, allied with a paucity of serious longterm study of their

works, means that it is difficult to firmly attribute a particular place of origin to many

Baluchi pieces. Their traditional field or ground colours may, however, be taken as a

useful guide as follows:

... Deep indigo blue: North of Herat; Torbat-e-Heydari, Timuri,Yakub Khani

... Medium blue indigo tones: Northern Khorasan (rare)

... Dark or brick madder red: North of Meshed; Nishapur; Ghainat; Djulghe Bakharz

... Deep purplish reds/blues: Siestan; Central Afghanistan

... Undyed camel brown: Bidjestan; Mahwalat; Ghainat; Djulghe Khaf. ( prayer rugs)

... Cream coloured sheeps wool: Torbat-e-Heydari

... Black-brown: Southern Afghanistan (Farah province)

In older rugs many of the motifs or design elements were outlined in black to

make them stand out better from the generally subdued or sombre overall design. To

achieve this black colour, brown or natural wool was dyed by repeatedly boiling it with

steel filings. This caused severe corrosion of the treated wool as it was exposed to

sunlight but the resultant “relief” appearance of the rug can be surprisingly pleasant.

As a rule Baluchi works are small in format as befits a range of rugs which were

traditionally made for use within a nomad’s tent . Such large carpet sized pieces as do

occur were probably commissioned from more settled weavers. Knotted pile rugs are not

normally used on the floor of the nomad tent; comfort here is assured by the use of

utilitarian felted squares. The rug proper is used primarily as a sleeping rug, although it

will of course be set out before honoured guests.

The Baluchi, as with many other wandering people, make and themselves

treasure a range of piled bags and cushions, although none of these are the length and

size of the Turkmen Chuval. One artifact seemingly unique to the Baluchi is a sleeping

piillow piled on one side only and known as Balisat. That their bags and other utility

wares are much appreciated can be seen in the way many of them are ornamented with

long brightly decorated tassels and even with shells picked up in the deserts of southern

Afghanistan, once the bed of an ancient sea.

Since their tents are markedly different from the Turkmen’s yurt the Belushi do

not make ensi or kapunuk pieces for the entrance way, nor do they make anything

resembling the long and lovinglywoven yolami tent bands.

The foundation of their rugs is of wool perhaps mixed with goat hair (cotton in

more modern pieces) and the pile is of very good quality wool. This wool, high in

lanolin, is derived from the Baluchi Sheep, a fat-tailed breed well suited to harsh and arid

conditions of the areas inhabited by the tribes. The pile is tied in the asymmetrical knot at

a density of 60 to 100 kpsi,

Another thin but splendid antique Torbat-e-Hidari Baluch

this still with its kilim ends extant. 164 84 cms. Late19C. Author's collection

The rug shown below is one of a small number of pictorial rugs which have

variously been attributed to both the Baluchi and to the eastern tribal group of the Afshar.

Its structure, and use of undyed camel wool in the main ground leads me to favour a

Baluchi origin. Most of these rugs with their blocky figures are attributable to Firdowz in

the Khorasan province of Iran, a city which is home territory to many Baluch and a

definite gathering point for their rugs. Whatever the case it is a striking and unusual piece

which is based upon the Persian poetic epic of King Khusraw and Shirin.

An old Khorasan area Baluch pictorial rug Author's collection

Another very rare antique pictorial rug whose characteristics suggest a Baluch originAuthor's collection

This very unusual rug obviously depicts a flying horse, and one with a woman's head.

Although one can never be sure what the weaver truly intended, this does strongly

suggest that it shows a Buraq, although who the other figures represent is a mystery.

Al-Buraq (Arabic – 'lightning'). The mythological flying horse who transported the Prophet Muhammed

from Mecca to Jerusalem and back in one of the chapters of the Holy Qu'ran.