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Old woman teaching a young one to weave a carpet. Turkmen. Caspian region. Early 20th century |
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| Woman’s сostume.Turkmen. Caspian region. Early 20th century |
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| Carpet door curtain.Turkmen. The city of Merv. Early 20th century |
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Decorative tent bands. Turkmen. Samarkand. Late 19th century. |
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| Saddle bag. Turkmen-Tekke. Early 20th century |
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Carpet bag .Turkmen. Samarkand. Second half of the 19th century |
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Carpet bag .Turkmen. Samarkand. Late 19th century |
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| Knotted carpet.Turkmen. Late 19th century |
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| Funeral rug. Turkmen. Samarkand. Late 19th century |
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Carpet horse cloth. Turkmen. 18th century |
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Turkmens: carpet art
Turkmen: carpet art
Phenomenon of the Turkmen carpet
Tufted Turkmen carpet is one of the most well-known phenomena of the nomadic culture beyond the borders of Central Asia. This is quite typical because Turkmen carpets are original, easy-recognizable and are the most developed kind of art of this people.
Carpet was an indispensable companion of the nomad during festivals and everyday life, military campaigns and halcyon days. No matter how valuable the carpets were in the East, only Turkmen made them not only the most important part of the material and spiritual culture, but also a bright ethnic symbol.
Carpet - creation of a woman
Carpet weaving skill was considered to be one of the most important merits of the Turkmen woman. Fame of the best carpet makers was kept in the people's memory. Weaving skills were being handed across the generations, from mother to daughter. Training started at the age of 5-6 from spinning. Gradually, the girl was mastering all the skills and could reproduce almost any ornament seen before. Work of the carpet maker, however, required great physical strength, patience and automatically performed skills. That is why woman became a real mistress of carpet making only by the age of 25 and she actively participated in this activity till senility.
Technique and material
Tufted, or knotted carpets, look like an ordinary canvas in the structure of which several rows of knots were inserted. Knots are situated between 1-3 or sometimes even more weft threads. In the Turkmen carpets weaving three types of knots are used:
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Solors have it asymmetrical right-sided with strong depression,
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Choudors have it with insignificant depression,
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Tekke have it asymmetrical left-sided,
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Sarykin have it symmetrical
and etc.
This indicates that different tribes acquired knotted weaving in different times and, therefore, in different places (asymmetrical knot refers to the Iranian tradition while symmetrical - to the Caucasian). Thickness of the product varies from 2000 to 5000 knots on the square decimetre reaching in particular samples 8000 or sometimes even 10000. Tekkian articles were famous for the most thin weaving. The basis of the Turkmen carpet was sheep wool which was used for making warps, weft threads and pile.
In the best ancient pieces together with the sheep wool camel and goat wool was also used as well as cotton and silk. Shimmering silk, usually tinged in pink or crimson colors, and mat cotton of the ivory tint gave to the carpets special elegance. Use of silk and cotton in the pile thread is characteristic for the Solor Confideration of the Turkmen tribes.
Ornament: composition and motives
The peculiarity of the Turkmen carpet ornamentation is its richness of the cosmogonical, mythological, magical and ethnic markers. System of the g?ls used in the decoration of the floor carpets "khaly" was one of the most important. Main compositions of the central field of the Turkmen knotted carpets were g?ls, striped, lattice-like and panel-like.
The g?l composition was the most spread, and the composition "darvaza" (gates) was the most complicated. The most narrative type of the panel-like composition was the decoration of the door curtain "ensi" representing the universe.
Types of the carpets
In every day life Turkmen used around 30 types of the carpets which can be divided into three main groups:
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part of yurta's furniture (mats, rugs, door curtain, etc);
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part of attire of the saddle and pack animals (horsecloth, under saddle cloth)
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ritual objects (prayer rugs, funeral carpets).
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