Turcoman

Carpet, hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft, Central Asian, Turkoman, 19th century

WARP:white wool; Z2S; 13-15 warp threads per inch (46-52 per dm).

WEFT: light brown (or possibly light red) wool; Z-spun, unplied; 2 shoots after each row of knots, one of red weft and one of brown; 10-14 knots per inch (40-56 per dm).

PILE: wool; 10 colours: dark red, red, yellow, dark green, green, dark blue, blue, pink (outling motifs in some stepped diamonds), brown, white; asymmetrical knot open to the right and tied around 2 threads; 65-105 knots per sq. inch (920-1456 per sq.dm).

SIDE FINISH: web of 3 cords overcast with dark green wool.

END FINISH: Lower: bands of plain weave 10" (25 cms) deep with a white band and then a dark red band which has a central band of ornage; below this is a blue band and above green, all bordered by narrow blue lines. The warp threads are grouped and secured with a single knot to form a fringe 4.5" (12 cms) long. Upper: bands of plain weave 102" (27 cms) deep with the top band of white with a brown band, 3 bands of blue, green, blue between narrow borders of light red and blue.

DESIGN: Field: dark red ground with diagonal abnds of tiny floral sprigs of dark blue with yellow blossoms or dark green with white. There are 3 complete rows and 2 outer partial quartered hooked lozenges in either red/green or red/blue quarters. The red quarters have a white stepped outline and the dark green or dark blue have a red stepped outline. The lozenge encloses an inner stepped cross in dark red and all 5 parts of the lozenge are filled with rows of the diagonal sprigs from the field.

NOTE: there is a slight change in the design after the first row: check with the position of the white borders and hooks to see this.
There are 19 off set bands and 2 partial bands of pattern.

Main border: hooked X-motifs in white lying over hexagonal blocks of alternating colour.

Inner and Outer Borders: red ground with a row of predominantly white and yellow diamonds and a half row to either side.
ground with small dark blue and white flowerheads.

Catalogue Date: 1.12.97

Mentioned in "Turkoman Rugs in the V & A", by M. Franses and R. Pinner (intro. by Donald King). Hali 1980, Vol.2, No.4., p. 302, 311, 315

Cf.: Tzareva (1984) ill. 95 "Ersari Khali, 19th century. No near analogy"; illus. 96 "Ersari Khali, second half 19th c."

Schurmann (1969), ill. 42. "Ersari-Beshir, middle of the 19th century… border… Yormud…"

Azadi (1970) ill. 7… "Ersari (Bechir?) 19th c."

Thompson (1993) ill. P.96 "Typical of Ersari work.. Russian Turkestan, 19th c."

These are simply off-set diamonds with serrated edges; each has been divided into five segments and light and dark colours have been used to create the effect of depth: some seem to sink down into their centre and other rise up from it. This may have been accidental. It certainly breaks the 'true principles of design' as propounded by the style gurus of the Museum's early days who said that patterns on flat textiles, such as carpets, ought to be flat with no hint of perspective.

0743(IS)