One of the greatest and most prolific tribal weavers known to the carpet/textile collector are the Turkomans from Turkmenistan. The Turkoman people can be loosely identified and associated with specific tribes. Historically speaking, the strongest and most influential tribe would be the Tekke. Each tribe has its own weaving technique, design, and color palette that enables us to identify them with a fair degree of certainty. Consider the harsh and often featureless environment from which the Russian Turkoman nomads have evolved. The Great Plains of Russia where these nomadic tribesmen have roamed for centuries is no Garden of Eden where flowers, trees and colors are in abundance. With this in mind, many collectors of Turkoman tribal weavings always wonder what it was that inspired them to weave aesthetically beautiful items. Moreover, the skill of a Turkoman weaver is not restricted to weaving alone. Equally important is the weaver’s innate understanding and appreciation of color and where it should be used in any given design. This skillful placement of colors greatly enhances their weavings. It is this combination of fine weaving, beautiful designs, and pleasing-to-the-eye color coordination that gives the Turkoman woven item its highly prized aesthetic value. Clearly, the Turkoman tribal weaver, particularly from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, was one of the world’s finest artisans.
Today, their tribal weavings are highly sought after by passionate collectors, particularly items woven before the 1920s. It was during the 1920s that Turkmenistan succumbed to Soviet control and became a Soviet Socialist Republic. As a consequence, many Turkoman tribes fled to neighboring Afghanistan and Iran. A large number of Tekkes fled to Bukhara, Uzbekistan, and sold large amounts of their famous Tekke gul design carpets. So many of their carpets were traded that the carpets became known both in the East and the West as Bukhara. Even today, contemporary Tekke gul design carpets are identified by dealers and customers alike as "Bukhara design".
Contemporary post-Soviet Turkoman weavings, as good as they are, are only a shadow of what was produced during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Another negating fact today is that the vast majority of Turkoman nomads have now surrendered to the all too familiar claustrophobic-culture-eroding values of the 21st century. The yurt (house/tent) is now being replaced with the more permanent brick house. This rapid transition has completely compromised the free spirit of the once mighty nomads. Their unfamiliar role as sedentary urban settlers is now reflected in many of their contemporary commercial weavings whereby their centuries-old geometric gul designs can appear to have been woven with a stiff regimental precision that is unable to radiate the loose and spontaneous charm that past Turkoman weavings are so famous for. Furthermore, the once traditional natural madder-root red hues have been replaced by the easily obtained and prepared synthetic dyes. It is this combination of commercial weaving and the use of synthetic colors that renders today’s weavings undesirable for investment purposes but do, nonetheless, make excellent floor coverings.
The Turkoman nomads produced not just carpets but also other practical weavings for everyday use which included: (i) chuvals which are large tent bags usually produced in pairs. Chuvals were used like suitcases for the storage and carrying of large items belonging to the tribal family. A pair of heavily laden chuvals would have been strapped to the flanks of a camel or horse when a tribe decided to relocate for pastures anew; (ii) jollars which are long narrow bags with an intricately woven front face. A jollar is usually hung inside the yurt where personal effects are stored; (iii) torbas (a smaller version of the jollar); and (iv) khourjeens, often called camel bags, which are double-sided with piled front faces. They are usually slung over the Turkoman’s shoulder or placed over the back of a horse. The khourjeen is produced in varying sizes.
Many of the above-mentioned textiles display within their woven designs tribal emblems such as guls. Gul is Persian for rose or flower. Each Turkoman tribe has a distinguishable gul. It is pertinent to point out that all of these above-mentioned items can still be found today in souks and Western carpet shops and come in varying degrees of quality. Top quality would be any item woven by a bride for her wedding (dowry). Dowry items are usually finely woven. Only the best materials and natural dyes were used. The main reason why the bride exerts so much time and effort into her dowry items is because her ability to weave is of prime importance, and not her physical looks. A groom will view his bride’s mastery of weaving as a huge asset for his tribe and family. The bride’s ability to produce fine weaving along with skillful color co-ordination would bestow honor and prestige upon the tribe that she was to marry into.
One example of a dowry gift would be the ak-chuvals (white bags) that are made in pairs — one for the male and one for the female. Ak-chuvals are not common among the tribal communities of the Turkomans. Usually, the daughter of a tribal leader (Khan) produces them. Her weaving skill, use of color and the availability of fine materials were second to none. This is not to say that the common women within the tribe cannot weave to a high standard, they can. In all probability, the finest weavers from the tribe taught the Khan’s daughter to weave in the first place. The only difference is that the common weaver is not required by tribal tradition to weave to such high standards with the finest and most expensive materials and dyes.
The picture above shows one of the ak-chuvals, which is a mirror image of the other. It measures 1.13m x 0.75m and displays an extraordinary consistency in the weaving technique. The overall design is well defined with extreme sharpness and clarity. This pair of ak-chuvals dates back to around 1850. Consider the restrictive, primitive, and barren conditions of the time, yet look at the woven splendor that has been produced. These two ak-chuvals are equal in weaving quality to any of the finest silk Qums coming out of Iran today. If we take a closer look at the ak-chuval we see that the predominating color is white (ak). This white is high-grade cotton from Turkmenistan and is colloquially referred to by the Turkomans as "white silver". It is also, reputably, the best cotton in the world, and was purchased by the Chinese and other nations during the great trading days of the Silk Road. The broad end panel (elem) at the bottom of the chuval displays nine ashik-gul trees with hooked branches that possibly symbolize animal heads in high quality wool. The ashik-gul is the serrated part of the tree that resembles a leaf. The sixth ashik tree from the left displays the bottom ashik-gul in a rich purple silk. This detail is missing from the other chuval. The reason for this luxurious detail is that it could be a form of a family signature. It could also be that the bride just wanted to emphasize the importance of her work and the significance of the occasion. The fact that silk has been used so sparingly indicates to us how expensive it was then, even for the tribal leader. The border surrounding the ashik trees is a continuous form of ram’s horns. In tribal culture, the ram’s horns symbolize strength and fertility. To emphasize again that these ak-chuvals were for a dowry, the weaver had included little abstract, plan view, human figures at both ends of the ashik tree panel. Depicting a series of events the figures revealed a story as follows: i) The bride and groom are introduced for the first time; ii) The bride and groom get to know each other; iii) The bride and groom enter marriage; and iv) The bride envisions herself having two boys. The female figure was depicted in what was originally a dark pink color, but has since faded with time. The male and the two boys are represented in indigo blue. There are 12 finely knotted bands, six narrow and six broad, above the elem panel of the ak-chuval. One of these bands, however, is highlighted with a fine white cotton background. The remaining three broad bands display finely woven, double-headed ram’s horns. The narrow bands are woven with wool containing alternate indigo blue chevrons and checkered diamonds on a dark purple background. The dark purple is called "kermaze" and is produced from the madder root. The remainder of the chuval is in the kelim form. The kelim part of the chuval, which is made up from fine, hand-spun wool, is dyed with a lighter shade of purple. This lighter shade of purple has been achieved by using only the skin of the madder root during the dyeing process. Without doubt, these ak-chuvals from the Turkoman Tekke tribe are a majestic example of antique Turkoman weaving at its very finest.
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