| My dream-team of Turkoman's consists of two stars. Firstly, I nominate
the incredible Chodor ertman gul chuval -- published in the Mackie and
Thompson book. Secondly, I choose the Freud Tekke bird asmalyk, published
in HALI 33, p.12. In both cases, they are of designs that I often find
sterile and (dare I say it) a touch boring; illustrating clearly the
difference between brilliant works of art and other extant types. In terms
of the Chodor chuval, I have yet to see a better use of colour in any
weaving. The ertman gul arrangement on chuvals is well known, but
oftentimes lends itself to an overcrowded aesthetic. Here the colour,
design and "aura" work to opposite effect, creating a piece that genuinely
speaks. Bird Asmalyks are not that common, and I have seen only one in the
flesh (at the Oriental Art collection in Moscow), as well as about
half-a-dozen others illustrated in the literature. However the combination
of the colours, border, and the unique rendering of the bird-like figures,
makes the Freud piece stand out. In particular, the birds are presented in
a manner that is genuinely "fun" and obviously meant to capture something
of the gestalt of the occasion for which the piece was woven (probably a
wedding). The small creatures above the birds, as well as the stars in the
birds, speak volumes. I find similar renderings of human figures in
Caucasian and Iranian carpets to be naive and childlike, usually
deliberately so, whereas here I am left with questions rather than
answers, with a sense of the fun and drama of a (probably) women's art,
rather than a catchy image which soon loses its charm. I will have a
chance to see the Freud piece in December, and cannot wait.
Stephen |
In trying to choose my favorite
Turkoman I also considered the Salor three-gul chuval whose two halves
belonged to Cassin (Cassin and Hoffmeister no. 5; the right 45%) and
Thompson (Sotheby's Thompson sale no. 60; the left 45%; the middle 10% or
so is missing). Each one of the fragments is an exquisitely beautiful
object. I decided to try and reconstruct digitally what the original
chuval would have looked like, with the following result: 
I was too lazy to fully reconcile
the borders and elem, or to restore the top, but this should give a
general idea. I was disappointed to find that I liked the fragments better
than the whole (Sam Gorden, are you listening?) because the shape was a
bit too elongated. So I distorted the image to assume golden-ratio
proportions, with the following result, which I rather prefer: 
Now it looks rather like what I
think is the best of kind, sold at Sotheby's NY 9/17/92 lot 67 for
$20,900: 
If only this one had
the color (particularly the blue in the guls) of the Cassin-Thompson
piece, we'd really have the topo Turkmen! Regards, Yon
Steve
Price