Functional and Utilitarian Items

Hi all,

We'll begin this thread with a look at an cross-stitched and embroidered cover from south Uzbekistan, which the dealer called an "oyna halta". I think this is wrong; I think it's a "lali-posh", a food cover. An oyna halta is a mirror bag, often embroidered or cross-stitched on the front. This item is not constructed as a container; it is an embroidered cover.

The word "posh" (sometimes "push") is used to describe a cloth item that goes over something else. A cover. In the case of a bolin-posh (we'll see one later), the item covered is a bride; it's held over her head on the way to the marriage ceremony.

There are lots of different kinds of "posh"s, some with their purpose clearly marked as part of the embroidered design (ex: a sandalik-posh, used for covering braziers, and patterned with teapots around the central design element).

This piece is 32 in x 18 in, and is backed with thick printed Russian tradecloth. If the dealer is right about age, it's from the early 20th century. The colors are quite subdued, and the design includes quite a few interesting (if not unidentifiable) critters:





Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

Hi Chuck

Oyna halta? The words look a lot like ayna khalta. In Elena Tzareva's catalog of the Museum of Ethnography Turkmen collection, she illustrates what looks like a garden variety Yomud spoon or spindle bag with a label that calls it an ayna khalta, or mirror bag. Is your oyna halta a bag?

Regards,

Steve Price

Asynchrony

Hi Steve,

You were typing while I was typing. See above.

Chuck

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Chuck Wagner

Yacoub Khani

Hi all,

In the Salon intro, Steve showed us a Baluchi bag with a few silk knots in it. Here's another, a Yacoub Khani bolesht, which I think probably dates from 1920 - 1930.



In the center of some of the diamonds forming the fill pattern in the field, there are knots of light green silk (yes, I tested one; not rayon).



It's the only older Baluchi piece I've handled that has had any silk in it.

Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

Hi all,

Here's an interesting camel headpiece that we bought about twenty years ago (I may have shown a picture of this before; I'll blame repetition, if any, on age). It came to the Middle East from northern Afghanistan, and was found in the middle of a large heap of trappings, tent bags, and tent decorations.

I can't really estimate how old it is, but I think it's no more than 30 to 50 years old. Because (to me, anyway) it's clearly a special-use piece, I would guess that it was kept in such a way as to minimize damage. So, the intact feathers on top may not be a good indicator of aging. The embroidery yarns are mainly silk, but the light blue is mercerized cotton. The tassles are made of bound horse hair.

What caught my eye was the distictly Uzbek zoomorphic elements embroidered on the main lateral band. It is a pleasant change from the smelly, somber Baluchi utilitarian animal headpieces.





Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

Doldrums

Hi all,

This seems to be either a quiet month, or a topic that bores a lot of our regulars to tears. Undeterred by these circumstances , I'll show you an interesting little Turkoman piece (close to actual size on my monitor):



It's been represented to me as a pre-WW II tobacco pouch (a "kese"). However, its failure to smell like a tobacco pouch leads me to believe it is something more like a money pouch. It is open at the end with the black edging. I've seen a few of these in the market over the years; this one has an inscription on it, so I bought it. I can't claim that it's extremely old, or rare, but is certainly is well done. It does have some evidence of wear.

It measures 4-3/4 in x 3-1/2 in. It is embroidered with red, yellow, and white silk, and black and red cotton. The work is extremely fine (= tedious). An example. The alternating black & yellow striped design element is a piece of black cotton yarn that is alternately wrapped with yellow silk floss, and then tacked down and passed beneath to the next yellow area. Each yellow area is less thah 1/16 in. (about 1-1/2mm) long and less than 1/32 in. wide. Each "leaf" on the rosette design is 1/8 in. long:



Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

Hi Chuck -

Yes, I know what you're feeling. Often here now quite good material yields little or no comment. We have too many folks firmly in an audience position.

It's a fact of life, though, that one cannot command participation. One can only continue to demonstrate one's own interest in rugs and textiles and hope that that will trigger responses in others.

Just for the record, despite their relative youth, I think both your horse decoration and the tobacco bag are interesting collectible pieces. I'm glad you put them up.

Regards,

R. John Howe

Hi all, and thanks, John,

Here's another Central Asian embroidered item done with both silk and mercerized cotton (which doesn't really make much sense to me, but that's what I found).

It's called a djoinamaz (djoi namaz, joy namaz, joi namaz.. you get the picture), several of which have been shown before on Turkotek (particularly by Richard Farber).:



It's a little unusual in that it has two mihrabs rather than one. I know in the past we've seen another similar to this somewhere on TT, I just can't find it. I decided to put this one here in the utilitarian items rather than wall hangings based on three pieces of information.

1) The seller, who lives in Central Asia, says that these pieces are often used in a way similar to prayer rugs, but are sometimes hung on a wall in the prayer area of a home as well.

2) There is no evidence along the upper edge that would show that this piece has been hung upright.

3) As you can see more clearly in the next image, the ground material is stretched out of shape in the open area beneath the mihrabs, as one might expect to see in a piece that was used on a carpeted surface.



The embroidery is a classic Samarkand pattern. It's stained, has a few small tears (repaired) and is of unknown age, possibly from before WWII.



And for those eagle-eyed critics in the viewing audience, the lighter red areas are not faded; they are an entirely different shade of silk:





Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

dear mr wagner,

thank you for posting the image of the saf.

i have heard these type pieces attributed to the uighur people.

the ground cloth is factory made i would imagine and the heavy embroidery tends to pull in the fabric -- where there is no embroidery the fabric seems to flop around.

i honestly dont think that that piece was every used on the floor.

in the salon nr 52 [i believe] the use of these textiles was discussed

your date attribution could well be correct or perhaps a somewhat later.

thanks again

richard

(Here is another uighur saf)

Another utility bag

Greetings all,

Here's another small utilitarian bag, probably functioning as a money pouch or small purse. It's supposed to be from western Uzbekistan (Karakalpakstan); it looks like Turkoman work to me, probably mid-20th century, possibly earlier. Nice workmanship, and very fine silk floss embroidery. It's 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. Here are the pics:

Side 1:


Side 2:


Detail 1 (roughly 2 inches across):



Detail 2 (note leather wrapping on tassle strap):


Regards,
Chuck

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Chuck Wagner