Joel Greifinger

Hi all,

There's something satisfying about rescuing a mafrash from it's almost inevitable fate of being cut apart and sold off in pieces. And, since the bulk of mafrash are flatwoven, this salon is a fine occasion to celebrate some that, due to timely intervention, haven’t suffered the fate of textile dismemberment. While often difficult to display and tough to photograph they nonetheless can make marvelous household companions.

To that end, here is a modest brocaded mafrash (well short of a "Fascinating Flatweave") complete with some “ethnographic repairs”, that I am nonetheless happy to shelter:






Here are close-ups of the end panels:







It would be particularly interesting to see pics of complete mafrash in situ in homes, offices or wherever else they reside on display. This one is imperfectly draped on an old table I picked up at a yard sale for the purpose. It resides in the corner of the room, with a laptop usually resting on top.





How, and where, do you display your mafrash?

Steve Price

Hi Joel

We have 4 or 5 (I've lost track and am too lazy to get up and look) that are intact. We have a local shop that makes unfinished furniture make storage chests that they cover. One serves as nice place to sit at the foot of a bed, one is used as a TV stand, etc. They're much more useful than most other things.

Photographing any of them would require a considerable cleanup effort - they're all surrounded by clutter.

Regards

Steve Price

Horst Nitz

Hi Joel,

I am using this one as a storage for socks and slippers.



The picture is taken from an angle that spares you from feeling disgusted

Horst

Patrick Weiler

Joel,

Complete mafrash are wonderful cultural artifacts. I have two "intact" versions and this half-rescued soumak mafrash with some similarity to yours.
I placed the two end pieces on top of the "bottom" section of the mafrash for a smaller picture:



The weave is nicely done:



However, this is one which I would not have "rescued" if the faded synthetic dyes were noticeable from the e-bay pictures. The description was "Antique Kurdish mafrash, brilliant natural dyes". Unless the seller is color blind, there are a couple of obviously faded dyes, such as the light pink on the front:



And the decidedly brighter fuchsine-like purplish-pink on the back:



I will send a note to the seller that this, to me, was an obviously misrepresented item. It is one which would be better off as pillows than as a Rescued Mafrash!
It is a nice example of soumak, but one I would not have purchased from a brick and mortar store.

The other two are mostly kept stored away due to the difficulty of displaying them without being stuffed with socks or draped over a table of a marginally useable size and shape!
Horst, what is keeping the Slipper-Mafrash from collapsing?

Patrick Weiler

Horst Nitz

Hi Patrick,

a made up cardboard box pasted with dark blue silk paper does the trick.

Best wishes, Horst

Joel Greifinger

Hi Folks,

This mafrash seems to be the object of a double rescue - it appears to have been rescued once before I got to it:







While the colors, materials, drawing of the designs and overall execution suggest that all of the parts were made in the same household, the degree of variation in the design between the side panels and end panels make it probable that these were made for two different mafrash. Since mafrash are generally dismembered for the market in order to make more sold off in pieces, it's unlikely that this was cobbled together by a dealer. More likely, two of the family's mafrash had become too worn out to use and provided parts to combine into the current incarnation.

Or, at least, that's the best story I've come up with. It's what I'd say if anyone asked when this piece occasionally cycles onto display as Patrick so generously put it.

Joel Greifinger

Patrick Weiler

Joel,

The more likely scenario is a divorce. The wife got the front, bottom and rear pieces when her family split up and she got re-married to a man who received the two end pieces in his earlier divorce. She then pieced together the new end-pieces to the extant front, back and bottom pieces.
This, also, is the genesis of the black goat hair tent with a back, top and sides but with no front. The former husband got the front of the tent, which his new wife split into two pieces and attached them as the sides to a new tent top-and-back.
I am available for speaking engagements on the intricacies of 19th century family dynamics and weaving practices.



Patrick Weiler

Chuck Wagner

Hi all,

Finding an intact mafrash, particularly an old one, is a challenge - as others have noted. Here's a Qashqai flatweave mafrash - probably not much older than mid-20th century, I think, that we found when living overseas. It's a different style than those from the northwest, with leather bound flap edges, and a quite secure and sturdy leather closure strap and handle rig. This thing is built for heavy loads:

Patrick Weiler

Chuck,

Can you determine the construction techniques of this piece?

Patrick Weiler

Patrick Weiler

Here is my favorite mafrash:

It is a classic example of the type, made mostly of countered soumak and goat-hair loops for securing during travel

The whites are cotton, with a wheat-grass yellow and a pleasant green

And, as you can see, it was made in Turkey

I found it during the previous Iran Embargo of 1995. I suspect that a large number of weavings made their way from Iran and Afghanistan through Pakistan and Istanbul during those days.

The back is simple, colorful and pleasing.

This is one of those artifacts which was made at the peak of the oeuvre of Shahsavan mafrash. It is crisply drawn, with excellent colors, tight weave and cultural integrity. There were decades, if not centuries, of predecessors to this piece. There are archetypes and proto-pieces which command significant prices.And there are way too many of these with Halloween orange, faded fuchsine and muted madder. But here is a piece solidly from the era of the peak of this production. One might compare it to a late 1960's muscle car made in the era between a 1932 Bugatti Type 50 and a 1978 AMC Pacer.
Most of the extant mafrash of this type were produced around 1900 plus or minus one year.
Many had succumbed to the ravages of declining dyes, cultural chaos and encroaching European influence. Some, however, retained the memory of a soon to be lost world without trains, planes or automobiles. They were carefully stored away as precious keepsakes and then spirited away to the West in times of turmoil.
Patrick Weiler

Joel Greifinger

Hi Patrick,

Nifty mafrash.

Identifying it as a product of the peak of Shahsavan mafrash production, you commented Well, since it's only days away from Halloween, and I'm trying to decide which mafrash to display for the holiday, I'm seeking guidance on which hues used by the Shahsavan qualify for that label. Do any of the colors in these make it into the category?

I'll start with some published mafrash but, if things get spooky enough, I might pull a most pumpkinesque panel from out of my own pile.







And, please accept my apology for introducing mafrash parts into this thread launched to celebrate the maintenance of their integrity.

Joel Greifinger

Patrick Weiler

Joel,

Those look like perfectly acceptable pumpkin-orange pieces.
I like the first one. The Bird-On-A-Pole design is a bit "different" on that piece, though. I assume it must be a very old piece because some of the "Birds" look like Dodo-Birds. Therefore your piece was woven in the mid 17th Century, around the time the Dodo-Bird went extinct.
And you apologized for taking the thread on a tangerine-tangent, so I will oblige by inserting a PILE mafrash piece:

At first glance, it appears to look like a prayer rug with without spandrels at the top of the arch, but a closer inspection proves otherwise.
It is probably an end-piece from a mafrash which would have been constructed similar to the one Chuck posted. His appears to be full of necessities so he can migrate to the mountains in case of invasion.
Notice that Chuck's piece has handles on both ends.
This pile piece has been "modified" for sale to the rug market. Someone re-piled the two sections where the handles would have been attached. You can see a couple of patches in the field. The patch on the left is "outlined" in white ground-weave and the one on the right has several white areas where the "repairer" either missed a few knots or the added knots came out:


From the back, you can also see these repaired areas. I suspected that this piece was SW Persian, possibly Afshar, but it seems to have areas of single-wefts.


I am traveling right now and am not able to inspect it more closely, but it is certainly an intriguing item. Somewhere there is a nomad missing one end of her mafrash.
Oh, and there is no orange in this one.

Patrick Weiler

Chuck Wagner

Hi Pat,

The Qashqai cargo bag and I are not currently co-located, so the best I can do regarding structure is a couple closeups I have on file. You can see the very heavy cotton warps poking through in several places. Based on what I see in Marla's book, it's complementary-weft weave.:






Regards
Chuck Wagner

Joel Greifinger

Patrick,

With the sun beginning to set onto All Hallows Eve and Halloween only hours to follow, spooky shrieks can be heard emitted by dismembered fragments long buried in piles of stored textiles. Every year at this time, a Shahsavan mafrash panel, long severed from the rest of its body, inexplicably emerges at the top of the pile and, with its jarring orange presence, suggests itself as our substitute for the traditional New England jack-o-lantern.

So, beware to the orange-averse.

Others may find it a bit of a treat.

Or just enjoy that the trick is on me, its owner.



Here's a direct scan, in case you want yet another take on the orange:





Joel Greifinger

Filiberto Boncompagni

Ok, Joel… Now I feel challenged.

Which overcomes my reluctance to post again some old images. They are already in an archived thread, so there’s no need to upload them again, anyway.

This is my first mafrash, very fluorescent colors that makes yours pale in comparison.



It covers a wooden chest (now full of rugs and textiles) that was custom made for displaying it.

Another old, tattered but still complete mafrash is displayed here – probably the grandmother of the other. I didn’t find a way to display it, so it’s inside the chest, now.



I hope these photos are scary enough. Happy Halloween,

Filiberto

Dinie Gootjes

Hi Filiberto, Joel,

Your orange scary? How about this one:



One of two complete pairs of overly colourful Bakhtiari bags with one redeeming feature: they were made to be used and were used till they fell apart, especially the second one. I find its re-purposed old hat rather endearing:



Sorry to barge in like this on the discussion. I have been away from our computer for the best part of two months, so reading was the only thing I could do. And did with pleasure, thanks Patrick! I will do penance by posting a nice balisht with back in the "Back O' The Bag" thread (and giving out lots of healthy orange candy tonight).

Dinie

Patrick Weiler

Dinie,

You Win!!!

Here is another full mafrash. Perhaps the former owner decided it was not worth taking apart. It may be an example of a Kara Koyunlu (Black Sheep Turkmen) mafrash. The Kara Koyunlu ranged over a very large area including eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northeast Iraq and northern Iran.


It has large latch-hook designs in slit-weave construction, with some soumak borders and probably retrofitted white cotton loops. There are a couple of the original red wool loops still affixed to it. Some of this type of mafrash have outlines of contrasting colors surrounding the designs. Many have larger "steps" along the edges of the designs. The larger steps would have been easier to make, but could expose the mafrash to damage from snags. The common conception is that mafrash were used to store and transport bedding. Once a family settled, they were probably still used for storage purposes. Migrating with all of your worldly goods can be rather difficult if you have a lot of large, wooden furniture. I know this first hand. After I bought a couch, it was way more difficult to migrate.




Although fairly monochrome in appearance, it has at least 7 bold colors. This weave type would probably have been much quicker to make than the detailed soumak construction of other mafrash.


I actually bought a small table, with too-long-legs, to plop my mafrash onto.
Unfortunately, the long legs and the mafrash on top make it look very odd.
So, I am selling all my mafrash and beginning a collection of small tables instead.


Patrick Weiler

Chuck Wagner

Hi all,

Well, now that others have already violated the "whole mafrash" rule, I'm more inclined to show you this one, neatly cobbled together by some lunatic who first dissected the whole. I do like mine in wall-mount sized chunks, so I can pass a backhanded compliment to the looney for doing a fairly good hack job:





That bit in the center that looks like it may be a lame purple dye is not a lame purple dye. It looks to me like someone dyed some red over a light indigo - it has a funny bluish cast to what is clearly - close up - a red:




Here's a little detail showing the structure of the decorative strips on top of the slit tapestry:


Regards
Chuck Wagner

Joseph E. Beck

Horst, very nice container for socks and slippers. A common design, but that's a great example of it.

Steve/Filberto, I have some interesting examples of complete mafrash hanging around my place that I'd like to post. However, I am tied up for the next 40 hours on an NSF proposal. Can you keep the thread open through this weekend?

Thanks.

joe

Steve Price

Hi Joe

It will be open for the next few days (including the coming weekewnd), but probably not much longer than that.

Good luck with the NSF proposal. I was Director of NSF's Sensory Physiology and Perception Program for 18 months in the late 1980's (on loan from my university, like a library book). It's a terrific agency, works hard to promote and protect academic scholarship.

Regards

Steve Price

Patrick Weiler

Chuck,

I really like that "composite" un-rescued mafrash. I have a couple of remotely similar end-pieces from a mafrash or faces of a khorjin which were also "Frankensteined' together to form a "rug".
Yours has a meaty structure, deeply saturated colors, a bold appearance and a whimsical design.
I will try to get a couple of pictures posted before the Salon is finished.

Patrick Weiler

Joseph E. Beck

I'm a collector of mafrash, so have several of them at home. Five complete ones on display, plus a few hiding in the closet. The best way I've found to display them is to hang them from the ceiling with fishing line, putting the fish hooks through the handles of the mafrash. The fishing line is nearly invisible, and it lets you display items in places that would be otherwise impractical. Higher resolution images are at: https://picasaweb.google.com/100979818864797321807/Mafrash#

The first mafrash is my favorite, and lives over the clothes dryer:

It has great saturation, and I particularly like the borders. I'm very picky about borders on pieces, and don't like the degenerate crab variant that is common on mafrash, so that knocks out a lot of pieces. Second least favorite is the "wave" minor border on this one--when it's sloppily done. This one has crisp drawing, and I like its look.

Second favorite mafrash guards the TV: it is located about a half foot in front of the TV, and hangs down just enough so that it does not block the screen. That does a nice job of screening extra light from hitting the screen, and provides some visual eye candy during boring parts of the movie:

This one has the more sloppily drawn wave minor border, but...who cares? I love the large gulls, and there aren't a large number of individual panels with them, so to find an intact one with these designs was a major score :-)

My third favorite I'll show the side view of:

This one lives over a chair I use for reading and nicely occupies a corner. Love the red/green contrast; those are two good colors to have next to each other (something about complimentary colors from color theory), and this one has a lot, with a nicely saturated red and a complex green. It's only my only mafrash with the closure rope still attached.


I only have one brocaded mafrash:

The colors are not as strong as the soumac ones I posted, but it has a nice dose of that sense of motion you get from a well designed Jaff bagface. It also has a rather interesting bottom panel and selvedge:

This one does not have a solid support under the bottom panel, so one of my cats like to jump up on top of it and use it as a hammock for catching some shut eye.

joe

Patrick Weiler

Joe,

I am unable to connect to the web page with the additional photos. I was hoping to see some of your mafrash hanging from the ceilings.
So far, I have avoided soiling the ceiling with weavings, but this fish-line method may remove this final frontier from exploitation.
I can see a few cat hairs on the bottom of your last piece. The cat has good taste! Soumaks can be an acquired taste due to them being a small subset of weavings and very few are actual rugs, so "rug collectors" would generally not have any in their collections. The small stars on the bottom are wonderful.
Chuck, that bluish-red could be cochineal.
Here is my cobbled-khorjin or mashed-up-mafrash:



The cobbler cut off the bottom section of the middle panel which should have 3 horizontal lines. The design is basically the same as yours, but this one does not have soumak rows between the slit-weave panels and no outlining of the motifs with a contrasting color, which most pieces with this design have. It also has a more elaborate version of the design, with the top and bottom horizontal motifs having forked-ends.

Patrick Weiler