Posted by Steve Price on April 26, 1999 at 07:42:11:
In Reply to: Differences posted by Wendel Swan on April 25, 1999 at 13:26:16:
Dear Wendel,
Your mention of closure systems raises an interesting point (or more). I've run into a few Turkmen juvals and torbas that have closures on them, but most (even the ones that still have the hanging ropes and torbas that still have most of the fragile fringe remaining) show no evidence of ever having been closable. Of course, the overwhelming majority of Turkmen bags exist only as bag faces, so whether they ever had closures is unknowable.
The two or three arrow-like devices at the top of most Yomud juvals raise another question. They are almost always referred to as closure markers, put there to help the person using the bag figure out where to put the closure rope. Sounds pretty silly, but I suppose if the bags were made by the women and used by the men it's understandable. Has anyone seen a closure system on a Yomud juval? Did the "closure markers" indicate where the closure ropes went?
Steve Price