5'8" X 7'8"

  

KASHGAR 19th Century - China

An exquisite and colorful example from Chinese Turkestan. A product of Turkic-speaking people of western China, the ancestral homeland of Turkic peoples who now inhabit Turkey, the Caucasus, northern Afghanistan, and parts of Persia. Almost all rugs woven by Turkic speakers, regardless of their actual geographic location, share a simplicity of design, generous use of coral red, and always a few touches of yellow. The childlike central design is simple trees and branches; the outer borders are strongly Chinese in color and design.

     
     

5'2" x 7'7"

  

TURKOMAN dated 1888 - Central Asia

Although woven by Salor tribespeople in the vicinity of Ashkabad in Central Asia, the rug was apparently designed by, and its weaving overseen by, an Armenian master-weaver. Recently owned by an Armenian family in Istanbul, the rug when purchased had the inscription in its border totally dyed black. The presence of an Armenian inscription was an embarrassment and could have given the Turks reason to confiscate it at some point in the past. The inscription reads, Badganoome Mirza Sarookhniantz 1888, which translates "The absolute property of the Scribe Sarookhanian." The weave is classically fine and Turkoman, but the colors show Armenian taste in the use of red-orange with the plum-blue. Fineness, condition, and the Armenian inscription make it a most important rarity.
     
     

5'8" x 6'10"

  

BORJALU KAZAK 19th Century - Central Asia

An outstanding example of craftsmanship from the Turic-speaking Borjalu tribespeople of Central Asia. This was most likely woven by those who inhabit northern Kazakhstan. The wool is long, resilient and durable, similar to the wool from the Astrakhan sheep. The braiding on the upper end of the rug shows this to have been used as an Ensi, or curtain, hanging in the door of the tent. Its plain, simple, primitive design and bold coloring is symptomatic of a tribal people whose life is one long continous struggle for existence against the elements and invaders.
     
     


3'10' x 8'3"

  

GENJI dated 1888 - Central Asia

A fine piece of Caucasian weaving, using firm heavy mountain wool, which gives it the thick texture of more northern Kazaks. It is however not so bold as those from Central Asia. Geometrical in spirit, it employs a series of medallions for the main motif, with the afterthought of small goats woven into all but the first medallion. Not all Genjis are Armenian, but this example is inscribed with the Armenian weaver's name and the date. The inscription reads on one side, Nubar Gregor Bagdasariantz 1888, Marian 1888 on the other, and the word aghuh or salt (symbolizing baptism) also appears on the border. That the rug commemorates an important event is clear, but whether of weaving, birth or marriage cannot be ascertained.