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Subject	:	Caucasian avifauna
Author	:	Yon Bard
Date	:	09-13-2000 on 04:29 p.m.

Was it the intention that this thread will discuss only the Baluch birds? If so, forgive me for the following. A while ago I bought a Perpedil rug which depicted several of the following creatures: At first I thought they were running camels in full stride. Perhaps the triangular decorations on their flanks were stylized asmalyks? But bennett, in 'caucasian Rugs,' says they are birds. Indeed, they look somewhat like four-legged ostriches, a species infrequently sighted around mount Ararat. But I just noticed lot 18 in Sotheby's NY forthcoming sale (9/27) which shows the same creature in several stages of development (or deconstruction); See illustration below: Of course, there are many other species in the Caucasus. The Akstafa bird is, I think, closely related to the Baluch bird, but the following Shirvan shows a delightful species, whose zoological classification noone can doubt: Regards, Yon

Subject	:	RE:Caucasian avifauna
Author	:	Steve Price
Date	:	09-13-2000 on 09:35 p.m.

sprice@hsc.vcu.edu Dear Yon, With all due respect to Ian Bennett, the figure on the Perepedil rug looks mighty unlike any bird I've ever seen. Four legs, a prominent hump. Wonder what it might be. Hmmmm. That's a tough one. The asmalyk-looking thing on the flank is peculiar, though. This isn't Turkmen, after all. In the words of Hamlet (I think), "There are more things under heaven and earth than are dreamt of..." Steve Price

Subject	:	RE:Caucasian avifauna
Author	:	Yon Bard
Date	:	09-13-2000 on 10:15 p.m.

Steve, I think the leftmost creature on the Sotheby's piece does look very birdlike, in spite of the indeterminate no. of legs. The others (including mine) are clearly 'degenerate' versions of it, and one of them (the rightmost Sotheby's creature) even has ight no. of legs. The 'asmalyks' are obviously wings. Besides, the Shirvan of which I showed a part also has three legged people, so one really shouldn't get hung up over mere anatomical details in classifying these things. Regards, Yon Regards, Yon

Subject	:	RE:Caucasian avifauna
Author	:	Christoph+Huber
Date	:	09-14-2000 on 03:19 p.m.

huber-ch@pilatusnet.ch Dear Yon In the case of these "Perepedil-Animals" I'm following Christine Klose, who in HALI 4/4 (p. 348 and footnote 9) states that many ornaments appearing to be animals have a floral origin.

May the picture I've added (Eder, D., Kaukasische Teppiche, 389, 93) helps a little bit. By the way, Doris Eder proposes quite contrarily in the original German edition of Bennett's 'Caucasian Rugs' (p. 144) that the palmette of the 'Eagle Kazak' is a abstract representation of a bird... Kind regards, Christoph