A pair of non-typical Turkmen chuvals

[Mikko Saikku Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mikko Saikku]

Dear Turkotekians,

Below please find my disappeared posting from last spring. After the "Virtual Show and Tell" site crashed, I stupidly kept trying to access TurkoTek via my old bookmark and remained under the impression that the site was down until late August, when I finally entered the site via "turkotek.com". I was then extremely sorry to learn that in the meantime Filiberto (who had been able to comment on my original post) had passed away.

Here's my original posting from March 5, 2022:
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I really need some diversion during these disturbing times, so I decided to post these two Turkmen chuvals I acquired a little while ago. I found them at a local auction and made my bids based solely on pictures. Frankly, I was not extremely impressed by the photos, but decided to go ahead.

To my surprise, my rather low bids won, and I unexpectedly became the new owner of these two chuvals. I must say I very pleasantly surprised when I picked them up: they look much better in nature than on the auction website, are in great shape, and seem/feel considerably older than I originally thought. Whatever they are, they do not seem very typical? I have seen quite a few Turkmen chuvals over the years, but nothing that is really close to these. After seeing them in nature, my off-the-cuff guess was mid-20th century Soviet Turkmenistan production (but more about that later).

Here are the two chuvals, from the original auctioneer photos. Woolen warps and six colors: reddish brown (brick) in two different shades; light brown; creamy white; light yellow; and very dark blue. To my eye, nothing clearly synthetic. Tekke-style design with guls(?). The feel is quite supple in the Turkmen tradition. The pile is almost intact, although #1 has experienced some long-term furniture pressure.

#1 / 195 x 138 cm / piled area 88 x 136 cm







and #2 / 198 x 135 cm / piled area 99 x 133 cm







The use of light brown on the borders of main guls makes them look a bit weird to me. Here are pictures of the two chuvals on top of a 1960s Afghan, and with two circa 1900 Yomud chuvals (the colors are a little better here, but still somewhat off):





And here's a backside comparison with an antique Yomud:



I called the auction house about their provenance and learned that the chuvals came from the estate of a diplomat who was stationed in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1980s and acquired quite a few rugs, both modern and antique. I don't know how well that works with my theory about Turkmenistan SSR origin?

In any case, I would very much appreciate any input about these two chuvals. A couple of questions:

- How common is it to find such a pair of almost identical chuvals? I'm under the impression that they were traditionally made in pairs?

- How much Turkmen chuval production there was during the 20th century? (To my understanding the production declined over time as I really have not come across many more recent examples.)

- And most importantly, what's your take on the origin and age of these two chuvals? Yomud/Tekke/Turkmenistan SSR production/or maybe even more recent Turkmen refugee work? Currently I'm leaning toward early 20th century, but I really have no idea!

Best,

Mikko

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And here's Filiberto's reply:

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Filiberto Boncompagni
March 6th, 2022, 10:33 AM

Hi Mikko,

- How common is it to find such a pair of almost identical chuvals? I'm under the impression that they were traditionally made in pairs?
Yes, chuvals were made in pair.

I don't think your chuvals are from Soviet-era Turkmenistan because of all those pieces I remember having seen (not too many, admittedly, and mostly rugs) had very much standardized designs ? and yours are rather quirky.

And 'your' diplomat was stationed in Afghanistan...
Which makes me think that your bags were woven by Turkmens in Afghanistan. They tended to be more 'free' in their rendition of traditional design.

The guls on your chuvals are also very similar to the 'juwal gul' illustrated in R.D. Parsons 'The Carpets of Afghanistan 'attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the clan of Chobash. Mainly located in the Shebergan and Mazar areas'. Parsons also mentions that 'the production of those pieces stopped in the early 1960s' but it is not clear if he refers to ALL production of 'juwals' or only to a particular variety he mentioned in that particular paragraph.

Age? I don't know. First half of last century is a possibility.

Regards,

Filiberto

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This is when the "Virtual Show and Tell" site crashed, so the only comments I received were from Filiberto, who kindly sent his reply also by email.

I later dug into the personal history of this high-ranking Finnish diplomat, and it turned out I gave non-accurate information in my original post. During the early 1980s, the person was officially stationed in Iran (Tehran) with official duties also in Pakistan (Islamabad). At the time, there was no Finnish embassy in Afghanistan because of the Soviet invasion, but presumably the diplomat still could have visited the country.

Anything to add to Filiberto's thoughts?

Best,

Mikko

[Steve Wallace Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve Wallace]

Origins of rugs for your diplomat - In the early 1980s, there were many (up to maybe 3 million if I recall correctly) Afghans in Pakistan (and I would guess Iran), as refugees due to the Russian occupation. There were many carpet sellers in Peshawar, and probably other big cities. So it would have been easy to buy carpets sourced from Afghanistan in Pakistan (and I suspect, Iran) - I did. I hope this may be a clarifying hint. There are also Turkmen in Iran, so that may a source too.
Cheers
Steve

[Mikko Saikku Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mikko Saikku]

Thank you for your insights, Steve. I agree the refugee connection makes a lot of sense, and we can more or less forget the Soviet Turkmenistan theory. (From a later auction, I bought a newish (1970s?) Keldar/Quali-i-Zal purdah-style Afghan rug, which came from the same estate. So there definitely is an Afghan connection. I furthermore acquired yet another pair of chuvals, but that's material for another posting, I guess.)

But what about the unusual design and coloration of these chuvals--who would use this Tekke-style design in Afghanistan? And what about the age--to me they feel certainly older than the 1970s?

Best,

Mikko

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi Mikku,

The Keldar piece would definitely be from Afghanistan, or woven by Afghanis in any event.

I suspect the chuvals you show here are from the Ashgabad area in SE Turkmenistan or from NE Persia. There are settled Yomut from the SE coast of the Caspian and eastward toward Gombad-e-Kabus who still weave chuvals etc. today. And they borrow other tribal motifs heavily. The non-traditional mix of motifs in the major border and the small 5-sided guard border turret motifs point toward that region. Commercial Yomut-style rugs from Russian shops in Turkmenistan used a similar minor border. The elem motifs are also rather non-traditional, and as such probably do point to a Soviet-era timeframe, although not necessarily Russian worksop production.

Regards
Chuck

[Mikko Saikku Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mikko Saikku]

Thanks, Chuck--that was a lot of interesting information! I really have no experience with the more recent chuvals; the youngest I've handled so far have been estimated as early 20th century production.

Re the purdah: I bought it purely as a furnishing item. It probably does not merit a separate posting, but here it is FYI:



I know very little about the more recent Aghfan production, but this rug with its Chodor-style guls looks like a close relative of the Keldar purdah in Parsons (1983), plate 37, p. 55. On the other hand, the embroidered squares in the kilim point to Qala-i-Zal origin (cf. Parsons, p. 57). In any case, it is a very well-made, large purdah rug (170 x 250 cm) in immaculate condition and I do like it, although the (thankfully sparse) use of a clearly synthetic orange is somewhat jarring.

1970s production?

Thanks again!

Mikko