Does that Baluch star-in-octagon bag come with an 'S' border?

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

On first seeing the picture of this bag in the online auction catalog, I was surprised and confused (the latter a not uncommon state these days ). Surprise, because I had done a Turkotek Mini-Salon some years back on Baluch star-in-octagon bags like this one (http://www.turkotek.com/mini_salon_00031/salon.html) and didn't recall coming across any in my research with this border (an 'S' in cartouche alternating with an 'animal head' on a white ground). This type of border design is often found on Shahsevan reverse soumak bags with diamond designs and also on some Jaf Kurd diamond bags. But Baluch? Not in my experience.

The confusion was due to the black and white braided closure loops and the photo of the bag's back. This closure loop design is common on khorjin from a number of Persian tribal groups, including the Afshar and Lors, but again, not Baluch.

A trip to the auction preview alleviated some of the confusion. Handling the bag, it became obvious that the back, complete with closure loops, was not original to it. But it added an interesting twist, in that the decorative band on the back is double-interlock tapestry weave, a technique that is only used by the Lors of Bakhtiari among Persian tribal groups, as far as I'm aware.

The bag measures 34” x 27” (86 x 69cm) and is knotted asymmetric open left. My experience has been that when you declare a design variation unique, lots of examples soon come out of the woodwork. So, let's see those other Baluch star-in-octagon bags with white-ground 'S' in cartouche borders.



A detail:



The back:


The back of the double-interlock weave band:


A Shahsevan reverse soumak bag with the border:


A Jaf diamond bag with the border:


Joel Greifinger

[Dinie Gootjes Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dinie Gootjes]

Hi Joel,

That is a great rug, beautiful as well as probably pretty rare! I went through all my pictures of Baluch rugs, and I didn't have a single one with this Jaff looking border. Maybe someone else will present one yet. You say that it is knotted asymmetric open left, so Baluch weaver using a Jaff border is far more likely than a Kurdish weaver trying her hand at a Baluch field design. I think another argument would be that the field looks completely normal for a Baluch star-in-octagon bag, while the border at first glance looks very similar to the Jaff border, but when you look more closely, there are a few subtle differences. I have pictures of probably more than 500 Jaff bags, with among those by a quick count 17 with this S border. There was not a single one with the clear line connecting the cartouches and the animal head design along all four sides. Usually the top and bottom have the animal head design simplified, and not connected to the cartouches, like in the example you show. There is another type too, where the heads get attached to the ends of the cartouches, but nothing like in your Baluch bag. There the animal heads are also smaller in comparison to the cartouches than in the Jaffs. And finally the sides of the cartouches of a Jaff are smoother, because the knots are offset, like in the field design of most Jaff bags. IMO that makes it likely that a Baluch weaver saw the border on a Jaff bag, and memorized the general idea of the border, without having the opportunity to exactly copy the design or take the example home. But maybe I am getting too fanciful here. Anyway, congratulations on your find !

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

makes it likely that a Baluch weaver saw the border on a Jaff bag, and memorized the general idea of the border, without having the opportunity to exactly copy the design or take the example home.

Hi Dinie,

If we're going to speculate about design influence (and why not? ), I'd guess that both the Jaf weavers and the weavers of the few 'Baluch' examples of this border were roughly emulating the Shahsevan flatwoven model. In those, the cartouches are attached to the alternating 'animal head' devices. There are lots of examples out there. Here are a few more:



The Shahsevan even sometimes wove a pile version:



The Jaf adapted it, often with a good deal less emphasis on maintaining regularity in the size and integrity of the elements:





In terms of other 'Baluch' examples, a couple others have surfaced. Lars Bonnevier posted this bag face on Facebook:



And, looking back at the Turkotek salon on star-in-octagon bags, I spotted this one, where much of the border has gone missing:



There are also some variations on the theme, like this allover star-in-octagon design that was published in a catalog by the Austrian dealer, Helmut Reinisch:




Joel

[Dinie Gootjes Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dinie Gootjes]

And, looking back at the Turkotek salon on star-in-octagon bags, I spotted this one, where much of the border has gone missing:

That is funny: I also looked through the whole salon, but did not spot that one .

I agree with you that the origin of the Jaff border is in the Shasavan flatweaves, but I am not sure about the Baluch. The scibble-like animal heads figure is very similar in the Jaff and Baluch bags. I think a case can be made for a Jaff precursor. Strictly speculatively, of course .

The white ground border in all three Baluch bags is so similar, they probably originate from the same family or group, I would say? I have seen a few more with the same border as the yellow ground one. The same could be said about those. Just as speculatively of course .

As an aside, I have a Jaff bag face where in the top and bottom border the animal heads separate from the diamond and attach to the cartouches.

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Dinie,

That bag face has the best drawn 'S' border that I've seen on a Jaf, an almost Shahsevan level of competence .

The other commonality I've noticed between the three 'Baluch' bags with an 'S'border on white ground is a string of odd looking doodads inside the line defining the inner field. In the fragment with the octagonal inner field, there are just five of them on one side:



In the one from Lars Bonnevier, they go around all four sides of the rectangle:



And, in my bag, they are on three sides:



A close-up of a few doodads:



I can’t remember having seen them on other weavings, Baluch or otherwise. I did a bit of a search for them on other Baluch pieces and only came up with one other bag that has them, a star-in-octagon type with a lightning border. Their resemblance to a face adds a nice macabre Halloween touch for me.

Joel