Posted by Tom Cole on July 12, 1999 at 18:51:53:
In Reply to: Re: toughts of a "not turkomaniac" posted by R. John Howe on July 12, 1999 at 17:50:50:
: Hi Daniel -
: (Another aside.) I wonder why you don't see many Turkoman pieces in Belgium? They seem to be frequent in Germany and Hans Elmby finds them in Scandanavia as does Peter Willborg.
: Regards,
: John Howe
All of these attributes mentioned, tight weave, use of cotton, silk highlights, small intricate designs which seem to be consistent from piece to piece, etc. all suggests DOWRY. Certainly fine textiles such as this were not commonly produced with having some social significance. The limited design pool, though, is eccentric and not consistent, for the most part, with the design pool of other piled objects. One might think one would see some of these thin bands of piled design occur as borders in other pile weavings, but they don't, for the most part. Clearly they were ceremonial pieces which WERE USED, and at one point may have been woven commercially, considering the number of late pieces exist in this world. In the field, many can be seen with obvious condition problems and/or problems with color, discoloration, etc. As the color white is associated with the marriage ceremony, why cannot "Ak [white] chuvals" be a part of the dowry offering.