Rugs & Carpets from Central Asia [antikvár]

A genuinely academic study of Oriental carpets and rugs began in the last half of the nineteenth century, which likewise witnessed the publication of the first works ever to deal with Central Asian weavings written by Russian art historians and collectors. Thus, published at the turn of this century were works on the subject by A. A. Bogolyubov, A. A. Felker-zam, S.M.Dudin and A. A. Semionov', that are still valid as they outlined ways and means of research in classifying this highly intricate and anonymous art. Of particular importance were the writings of a gifted Soviet scholar V. G. Moshkova, whose Tribal Gdls in Turkoman Carpets and Carpets and Rugs of the Peoples of Central Asia^ are to this day fundamental studies second to none in the information they provide.West European interest in Central Asian carpets arose in the 1960s and 1970s and is still growing with more and more collectors attracted by their peculiar beauty and superb technique employed by their weavers. Besides, these wonderful works of folk art can reveal much about the life and traditions of the people who made them. Thus, now, a carpet speciaUst can determine when a carpet or rug was knotted, by whom, how many women wove it, whether it was made for domestic use or for the market, etc. Yet, much is still obscure as there is but little evidence to proceed from to date an item, identify the appearance of an old Central Asian carpet and its ornamental design, or ascertain the impact of inter-tribal influences. No wonder carpet specialists are so greatly attracted to the Central Asian carpet and endeavour to seek out unpublished items to draw comparisons. Now we may say that the Central Asian carpet and rug are gradually, though tardily, disclosing their secrets and providing valuable information about their makers.Nomadic Central Asia was in all likelihood one of the centres where the craft of pile weaving either originated or was perfected. Not only the climate but also the specific nomadic way of life played a definite role. The need to warm the yurt in the colder seasons suggested production of felted and knotted rugs and carpets. Considering the abundance of wool in a pastoral economy they were more reasonable to make. However, whereas felted mattings and flatweaves were produced throughout Central Asia, pile weaving was mostly practised by the Turkomans on the south-eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, at the foothills of the Kopet-dag range and in the valleys of the Atrek, Sumbar, Tejen, Murgab, and Amu-Darya rivers; by the Uzbeks living around Bukhara and Samarkand and by groups of the Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Karakalpaks and Baluch inhabiting the Kyzyl-Kum desert, the highlands near Samarkand, the Ferghana and Hissar valleys, and also along the lower reaches of the Syr-Darya.As carpet making emerged amidst different peoples in these areas at different times, regional levels are naturally dissimilar. Evidently first to practise the craft were the Turkomans who inherited the technique either from Persian ancestors inhabiting this region from the 2nd millennium B.C., or from the Turko-Oghuz, who, overrunning Central Asia in the 9th century A.D., comprised the nucleus of