Posted by Tim Adam on 02-21-2005 05:24 AM:

Date attribution criteria

Steve,

In your salon you write

quote:
Various designs, motifs, textures, even overall shapes, are believed to correlate with age in certain weaving groups. But, I wonder, how much of this conventional wisdom is soundly based, how much is simply error accepted by repetition.

Except for Wendel's hypothesis that the Leshgi Star is a more recent invention, we have not talked much about the "various designs, motifs, textures, and overall shapes" that can be used to estimate a rug's age. I would really like to hear/learn more about this part of the salon.

Apart from the general deterioration of design and multiple border phenomena, I have heard that the following can be age indicators in Turkmen weavings:

I am sure there are many more criteria. So, my question is, "What are these criteria, and what do they indicate?"

Best regards,

Tim