A Boteh a Day Keeps the Covid Away

[Carl Gray]

Hello everybody, I am thoroughly enjoying looking at the multitude of different boteh designs that are appearing on this thread - the perfect antedote for these strange times we find ourselves in... thank you!

Here is my contribution to brighten up the day, a recently acquired rug which the auctioneer described as a Kashan.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/carl8.jpg

I am finding that it is a little hit & miss purchasing things unseen & relying upon the honesty & thoroughness of the seller. In this case much of the selvedge on one side is non existent & there is a poorly stitched tear near one corner. I can deal with the former but the latter is a beyond my skill level & I am not sure if the cost of having this repaired could be justified financially. Nevertheless I do like this rug as the patterns & palette just exude a certain 'joie de vivre' & hippy era feel - might this mean it originates from the 1960's?

Rather than abrash I suspect that the brighter area is where the rug was hidden from sunlight under a piece of furniture?

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/carl7.jpg

The back is almost as bright & vivid as the front. The neatly finished plain weave ends with blue & red embroidered fringe, or should that be brocaded (perhaps somebody could enlighten me as to the difference between the two), is a nice touch.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/carl6.jpg

[Joel Greifinger]

Carl,

Definitely, a bright rug for uncertain times.

Nevertheless I do like this rug as the patterns & palette just exude a certain 'joie de vivre' & hippy era feel - might this mean it originates from the 1960's?

Certainly John was feelin' it then.

https://i.postimg.cc/LXD3jPCp/Screen-Shot-2020-06-19-at-1-17-20-PM.png

Joel

[Chuck Wagner]

Hi

It lingered into the early 80's, when the last of the hippies finally had to grow up and get a job...

https://img.discogs.com/3SzPvJbDFE_rOjnhTsZa 5cRCDJI=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc(): format(jpeg):mode_rg b():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-560791-1278615880.jpeg.jpg

Chuck

[Patrick Weiler]

Jimi has something to say about that. Check out the boteh next to his shoulder.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/53/03/fd5303a25677b8f60a8b d789d3b817a1.jpg

But, back to basic botehs, there are a few floating on the field of this large Luri carpet. Granted, they aren't very large. My backlog of boteh bags and rugs has mostly already been previously posted.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_lurib1.jpg

"Botehs?" you might say, "Where are they? I don't see any stinking botehs!" These botehs only occupy the top, left one-third of the rug for some reason. Some rugsperts might say it is because the rug was woven by two women sitting side by side and the one on the left insisted on botehs while the one on the right was miffed. Yes, that's probably what happened.
:madgo:

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_lurib2.jpg

A closer look shows these twinkling, star-like botehs on the dark firmament of the blue and black ground color. Almost as though they were polyps which had been attached to the guls and had fallen off into the sky to slowly mature into the larger rosettes floating freely in the field.
An endlessly fascinating rug in an almost abstract interpretation of those other fastidious, formal rugs from "the big city".

Patrick Weiler

[Chuck Wagner]

Hi Pat,

Maybe they're celebratory amulets, marking the point at which the various motifs on the rug actually aligned left-to-right they way they were supposed to, but didn't, throughout the entire earlier weaving process...??

Like a fireworks display..

Here are a couple similar botehs on a Meshkin runner, but writ large so the nearsighted might also enjoy them - just below the quadrupeds, and the pair of driods and their mommy..

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/mr00.jpg

Also note that the "C" border motifs morph into botehs further up the rug.

Regards
Chuck

[Joel Greifinger]

Pat,

Ah, the Chromosomal Luri of your 2003 Salon makes its reappearance. :fez:

When you posted what you yourself called the 'Barely a Boteh Baluch Bag', I feared that you were scraping the bottom of the bunker's boteh barrel.

My backlog of boteh bags and rugs has mostly already been previously posted.

My fear seems warranted. Sad. :(

On a brighter note, here is a Baluch balisht with another variant of their boteh designs. This one, perhaps best known from a similar balisht in the Boucher collection, has what clearly look to be sepals emerging from the 'stem' at their bottom. It is an explicit intermingling of boteh and flower:

https://i.postimg.cc/FKMK5qCR/Shrub-balisht.jpg

Joel

[Dinie Gootjes]

But of course the Baluch weavers stole the idea from the weaver of this Khamseh square. With the help of a time machine, no doubt.

https://i.postimg.cc/yYfJ18J1/Shiraz-001.jpg

[Joel Greifinger]

Another approach to the boteh-flower synthesis was taken by the weaver on the border of an Afshar rug with a 'demon head' field design:

https://i.postimg.cc/JnWmvnjG/IMG-0485.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/MGBq9RMC/IMG-0484.jpg

Joel

[Chuck Wagner]

Hi all,

Boteh. Acanthus leaf. It seems to be a positionally dependent issue, determined by an early, middle, or later presence in this thread....

As several have noted, the collective boteh inventory is starting to run low. I have few remaining, among them these two horse covers, each of which feature botehs -the dominant motif on the Shahsevan, and a space filler on the Qashqai.

Regards
Chuck

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/smvdet01.jpg


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/smvdet02.jpg


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/qkv01.jpg


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/qkv02.jpg

[Patrick Weiler]

Chuck, two horse covers? That's twice as many as I have!

Big rug, little botehs.

This is another case of a Large Luri carpet with botehs only on one side. The two close ups show botehs above and below the central medallion of this rug which has graced the pages of Turkotek in the past. But they are only on the right hand side of the rug. If you look closely you can also see a single boteh inside the medallion - on the right.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luria1.jpg

There are a few of them near the hookah-smoking shaman in this picture.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luria2.jpg

And a single boteh above, to the right of the medallion.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luria3.jpg

With this sample size of two Luri rugs showing botehs on only one side of the rug, there is likely an explanation for why this occurs so often.
:sherlock:
I'll do some vague speculating and rigorous research and get back to you.
:felix:
Patrick Weiler

[Chuck Wagner]

Pat,

Actually thrice, there are several more than two; this one was in the Threadbare thread - and rightly so - but can claim dual citizenship onaccountabecuza the botehs also covering it...:

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/qv01.jpg

Regards,
Chuck

[Joel Greifinger]

Actually thrice, there are several more than two

Chuck,

A veritable equestrian boteh lollapalooza. :cheers:

Pat,

With this sample size of two Luri rugs showing botehs on only one side of the rug


For a bit of balance, here is a large Luri rug with botehs on both sides in the field and border. Unfortunately, for research purposes, the n=1. :nerd2:

https://i.postimg.cc/bN0QwCwF/DLuri-rug.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/fRwYtc3W/DSC-0276.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/HkBXQr5w/DSC-0277.jpg

Joel

[Chuck Wagner]

Joel,

I think I've posted this in the past.

Here is a Lori flatweave, likely from the Fars regions, with a white comb-like device loosely similiar to that along the central line of guls in the field of your rug.

A class descriptor, perhaps ?

Or just bugs, rendered by someone using psychotropic meds...?

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/QK01.jpg


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/QK03.jpg

Regards
Chuck

[Patrick Weiler]

Carl,
Beautiful boteh rug! It is hard to tell if there is fading of the blue in most of your rug and the top part was out of the sun - though that is certainly a possibility. A look at the back might tell us if the darker colors of the top continue down the rest of the rug. The end looks like balanced plain weave of the warps and wefts with a row of twining - sometimes used to stabilize the ends. 60's or later is not out of the question for age.
Chuck,
That's not a Meshkin, it's a Muchkin. How Muchkin I fit on the kitchen floor?
Your third horse cover looks like inlaid brocade - often used by Qashqai weavers, as well as Khamseh like the cradle I posted earlier. And the Lori piece is spectacular. I wonder if it was a sofreh.

Joel, nice Luri piece, especially the borders. It looks like the field design has had some cross-fertilization with Kurdish weavers.

Here are some more nondescript botehs scattered about my Tree Kazak. It seems like the weaver thought about a more spacious border, with botehs alternating with the cross motifs - but apparently the botehs were just too much work so she dropped them altogether except for a few in the field.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_botehk1.jpg

Here is the whole picture - colors look a bit darker than actual at the top near the ceiling where the light isn't as bright.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_botehk2.jpg

And a boteh under one of the camels.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_botehk3.jpg

There are even some more botehs floating around the bunker somewhere. I better put my covid mask on and do some searching.
:D
Patrick Weiler

[Joel Greifinger]

with a white comb-like device loosely similiar to that along the central line of guls in the field of your rug.

Chuck,

I've come across ones that look like the ones in your piece on other Luri flatweaves. I haven't been able to find others that look like the ones in the center line of my rug. :( What I have found lots of is this favorite of the Lors:

https://i.postimg.cc/63yY68Zw/NLuri.jpg

However, returning to the thread's raison d'etre :laughing_2: a rug with boteh field design from the diverse neighborhood evasively designated 'NW Persian':

https://i.postimg.cc/GtDKY6z5/NWBoteh-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/vBkX4G7n/NWBoteh-2.jpg

Pat,

There are even some more botehs floating around the bunker somewhere. I better put my covid mask on and do some searching.


As Sgt. Phil Esterhaus was wont to say, "Let's be careful out there."

Joel

[Jim Miller]

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/miller1.jpg

The 3 botehs in the field generate a strikingly one eyed anthropomorphic figure in this graphic Heriz bag face.

[Chuck Wagner]

Jim,

Botehs, or templates for cowboy boots; tough to judge... :cheers:
But in the end, a plausible argument for a record of an alien visitor.

Pat,

More horsie stuff; this one a saddle pad from Kirman, complete with auxilliary botehs:

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Kirsad0.jpg


http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/Kirsad1.jpg

Regards
Chuck

[Joel Greifinger]

Jim,

Clearly not a one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater. A two-horned cousin?

Joel

[Patrick Weiler]

Deep in the bunker hangs this enigmatic rug. It is a Luri rug of respectable age for a tribal rug. At least a hundred years old, it likely predates the upheaval of the mid first quarter of the 20th century. (pre Spanish Flu pandemic) The colors of the whole photo are a bit off, but the close up pictures show them quite well. All natural dyes as far as I can tell - no bleeding or fading, but some marked abrash in places. The outer, checkered border is a typical Luri device. There are a couple of chickens, a camel and a person, perhaps the weaver, near the middle, left of the rug. It seems to be a very rustic interpretation, perhaps, of a more formal design. But not quite like anything I recall seeing before. It is one of those pieces which a collector of tribal, nomadic and rustic village Persian rugs finds quite satisfying.

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luri2a.jpg

There are a couple of botehs in the top quarter of the field, one shown below:

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luri2b.jpg

And this close up of the border shows a couple of the border botehs:

http://www.turkotek.com/show_and_tell/PAT_W_luri2c.jpg

Now, there must be a few more botehs around somewhere...
:felix:

Patrick Weiler

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Nice! :clap:

Fresh, spontaneous, authentically tribal little rug. :cheers:

Filiberto