Description

This Tekke Turkoman Juval, or Chuval, dates to the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Its field is decorated by six Salor guls with a small quartered gul in each centre. Two complete and ten partial Tekke guls form the secondary elements. The main border is flanked by two other borders of similar visual weight; on the sides they are separated by diagonally striped guard stripes.  The wide panel at the end is a grid of flower-like ornaments.

Jon Thompson points out that the presence of six guls in the field, as opposed to three in earlier examples, is likely to place this bag in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but not at the very end, since the design would have been developing towards a much busier ornamentation, with nine or even twelve guls decorating the field (see Mackie, Louise W & Jon Thompson, eds, Turkem. Tribal Carpets and Traditions. The Textile Museum Washington DC, 1980, pages 102 – 105).

For a discussion of the role various sizes of bags played in the creation of dowry pieces for Turkoman weddings, see also  https://www.christopherleggeorientalcarpets.com/products/view/antique-tekke-turkoman-mafrash-2 on this website.

The Juval is over all in good condition, with some areas of wear.

£595