Description

This antique Tekke Turkoman juval dates to the early to mid 19th century.

It is an unusual specimen: it has design elements of Kizil Ayak weavings; see, for instance, a bag in the Wiedersperg Collection attributed to the Kizil Ayak and publsished as Plate 69 in Pinner, Robert and Murray L. Eiland Jr., Between the Black Desert and the Red. Turkmen Carpets from the Wiedersperg Collection. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 1999, p.94. The geometric design of the main border is also something found in Kizil Ayak bags – a good example of this is Catalogue No. 117 in the publication accompanying an exhibition in the Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde on the occasion of the seventh ICOC in 1993, entitled Wie Blumen in der Wüste. Die Kultur der turkmenischen Nomadenstämme Zentralasiens.

However, at the same time and importantly, the weave, the warm, soft colours and the shape of the main gul as well as the tree design of the elem strongly suggest a Tekke provenance. The secondary gul, a chemche gul of a type often found in juvals, is extremely stylized and reduced to its basic structure, which hints at an early date.

The juval in hand is slightly reduced in width. Damage to the top end has been sympathetically secured.

Over all the bag is in good pile, with beautiful silky wool.

This is an interesting collector’s piece.