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From the design of this small kilim square, which is about 3ft x 3ft, could anyone point to a tribal origin of make? All I know about it is it came out of Nth Afghanistan in the 1960's.
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Hi Phil,
That kind of work is typically attributed to undifferentiated Uzbek weavers and as you note, from far N and NE Afghanistan, on either side of the border.
Regards
Chuck -
A feature of Uzbek weavings is the use of double interlocking wefts, rather than a slit weave. If you look on the back, you will see that when two different color wefts meet, they both wrap around a shared warp, leaving a ridge at the color intersections on the back.Comment
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Phil,
Here are a few images of an Uzbek flatweave bagface that we have, with detail of the back.
Regards
Chuck
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Thanks for the input Chuck, much appreciated!!!!
And just to be clear, you didn't mean that it also should have the 'shaggy back' like your bagface (as it didn't), just a ridge where any two colours meet, correct? (As in your second post ".........when two different color wefts meet, they both wrap around a shared warp, leaving a ridge at the color intersections on the back.")Comment
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Phil,
I'm not following your question. There is another style of flatweave produced by the Uzbeks called "gudjeri" which is a combination of normal kilim and floating warp, but they look quite different from the piece you posted; images below. I'd have to see the back of yours to make a more thorough comment.
Regards
Chuck
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Pardon not being clearer Chuck. What my question was meant to ask was if the kilim in my post was Uzbek, was the back supposed to look like the back of your bag (or your gudjeri), as the kilim in my post looked nothing like the back of your 'bag' or the gudjeri. If it wasn't for being more faded on one side than the other, there appeared no difference in the look of either side, both faces ‘look’ the same as it were. Given that, do you still think Uzbek?
Unfortunately I no longer have physical access to it, so cant post any more photos. It was just that I was going through some old photos the other day when I came across it (and had always wondered if an origin other than ' from nth Afghanistan’ could be determined from the design alone.)Comment
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Hi again Chuck,
Just to followup on my previous. I found a kilim online that was described as being Uzbek and was a very similar looking design to the one I posted above, but with the shaggy (soumak?) type back like in your saddle bag photo. (Unfortunately cant post pic as its for sale.)
However, as I said in my previous, what I posted above just had a plain kilim back (that is, no difference looking front or back). So I’ll ask again, as seemingly you missed my question in my previous post, would / could it still be Uzbek made if had just a plain kilim back, that is if it did not have a back side that looks like either of the two examples you posted?
If the answer is "no, not Uzbek then", any idea whom may have made it?
Look forward to your reply.
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Hi Phil,
Well, if you're certain that it was in fact a plain flatweave kilim, without floating wefts or a raised interlock boundary, then it probably isn't Uzbek. I haven't found another good analog in my reference books but I can say that the jagged dogtooth border is often found on kilims from Maimana and on Hazara kilims from the Sar-e-Pol region in Afghanistan. They're both plain flatweave and have very similar palettes, and similar motifs. Withou a few closeups allowing evaluation of the structure there's not much more to say.
Best I can offer,
ChuckComment
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