Posted by Patrick Weiler on August 19, 1999 at 09:34:39:
There have not been any comments about the Khamseh saddlebag #2 yet.
It is a familiar design to anyone who has spent any time looking for bags.
There seem to be fewer of these than of the Jaff Kurd bags, but just about all of the Kurd bags have been separated into "mats" for sale as small rugs. You are more likely to find these Khamseh bags intact or as 1/2 with the back still on.
And there are even fewer Qashqai bags than Khamseh bags, even though they lived in the same area.
Were there just fewer of the Qashqai bags made than Khamseh and fewer Khamseh bags made than Jaff Kurd? Or was it that the time period that these various tribes ramped down from nomadic to settled life and the political/commercial climate of the times determined the relative availbility and condition of them?
The market seems to have treated the Kurd bags with a little less respect, the Khamseh with a little more neglect and the Qashqai with more exalted status. This would then argue for considerably more Qashqai bags, since they were "more valuable" than the Kurd bags, unless other factors were at play.
I have read than "thousands of these Jaff Kurd bags" were brought into the US late in the 1st Quarter of the 20th century and this mass entry into the market, at a time of little concern for the ethnographic aspects of these weavings, could have caused this result, whereas the SW Persian bags stayed more in Iran and weren't subjected to dissection and even rabid collecting until the 1970's.
Anyway, this is a nice example with unusual structural characteristics that seem to have been incorporated for specific use. Or was it just made by a more experienced weaver whose earlier output suffered from premature expiration due to lack of reinforcement?
I know I look at modern products and see where improvements could be made to help them stand up to normal use. (Like internet web sites) :-)
It is nice to have Turkotek back up and running. Thanks guys!
Patrick Weiler