Identifying ensi

[Kenneth Morton]

Dear all,

I was wondering if anyone could help me identify this rug.

It belonged to my grandparents. They lived in Lahore and Multan in what is now Pakistan in the 1930s. It could also have belonged to my great grandparents, who also lived in the Punjab and I think in Baluchistan earlier in the 20th century.

The wool feels rather dry and is not very soft, even where it is less worn.

They also owned another much larger carpet which in some ways a bit similar. It was made of similar rather rough wool, had a similar weave, and also had cross / club / flower motifs like the ones on the white rectangles in the photos. However it was much larger (maybe 3m x 3m), square, and the dominant colours were dark brown and (I think) blue.

I have a memory (which may have got a bit mixed up) of being told that every year people would bring carpets to sell across some mountains wearing shoes made out of lorry tires. I don't remember if that was with reference to these particular carpets.

I'd be very interested to hear any thoughts.

https://i.postimg.cc/V68CgjwK/Morton1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/50SFR6Nb/Morton2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/KjcgSxRL/Morton3.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/66zvV2mh/Morton4.jpg[/

https://i.postimg.cc/ZnfvJ2dQ/Morton5.jpg

[Alex Wolfson]

Dear Kenneth,

The pictures are rather small, but from what I can make out, it is an Ersari ensi, probably from the Middle Amu Darya region.

I am by no means an expert on these weavings, but the inner white border looks to be quite a rare design. I would tentatively date it to the mid to second half of the nineteenth century.

I hope that helps.

[Kenneth Morton]

Dear Alex, all,

Thank you, and apologies for the small photos. I hope these are better.

Ken

https://i.postimg.cc/3wWpWKBZ/DC6-A52-B3-B443-4104-B30-A-77-B0-C3-E04-DB6.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/x1Z8xLvK/80-AA6-C16-CC69-46-C2-8-C33-C26-ADFBE5-F35.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/rwRMp34r/8-C8-D6-CC5-1-C14-4825-BD98-A86-F085-A6970.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/7LXsrYLM/3-FE9190-D-1444-4840-9-DEA-812-AE9-ED045-B.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/VNwpcVW1/C2-FAD452-A38-B-47-DA-9615-41237-ECB18-DC-1-201-a.jpg

[Filiberto Boncompagni]

Welcome to Turkotek and congratulations for your heirloom.

Like Alex, I am no expert on these weavings but I find your ensi very interesting.

The 'inner white border' mentioned by Alex should be quite unusual. The only few example I could find are visible in this old archived thread.

http://www.turkotek.com/misc_00039/uzbek_ensi.htm

Scroll down to the second half.

Regards,

Filiberto

P.S. - I moved your registration to 'Members' so your future posts will not need to be validate and will appear immediately.

[Chuck Wagner]

Hi Ken, and welcome to Turkotek,

That's an unusual and interesting ensi, congratulations !

Filiberto has already pointed you at some discussion of the rotated kaikalak motif on your piece; here's another one that has some discussion of the "S" border as well as a reference to a second of Louis' posts:

http://www.turkotek.com/VB37/showthread.php?t=427 9

Regards
Chuck Wagner