Lot Essay
Warp: goat hair, reddish brown, natural, Z2S
Weft: wool, red brown to light brown, natural, Z2S, 2 shoots alternating
Pile: wool, Z2, assymetric knots, no warp depression, H8xV10
Sides: not original
Ends: top, remains of rust, salmon, sapphire and light blue fringe, symmetric jufti knotted on 4 warps; bottom, not original
Colors: rust, ivory, mid brown, light blue, sapphire, blue-green, pale yellow, salmon-tan
This unusual piece belongs to a small and extremely rare group of Ersari trappings with similar "double headed eagle" guls. There appear to be only two other published examples with this design, both of which seem to be later in date. One of these examples was sold at Lefevre & Partners, London on 6 April, 1984, lot 5, however, it does not have the extraordinary color balance and glowing, saturated color of the offered lot. The other example is in the unit of the TSSR, inv. no. K-180 (KP-999), (Hali, issue 37, p.39), yet it lacks the exquisite borders of this piece and is a bit more crowded in design.
It is tempting to see the main design element of this trapping in context of the controversial Zoroastrianism and "Great Bird" theories being supported and/or slandered in current carpet studies. Here, the main guls would represent the eagle rising triumphantly with spread wings, clutching in her talons the defeated serpent, represented by the small latchhook motif beneath each "eagle." However, such theories are better left to other forums and it is best to just appreciate the offered lot for its aesthetic and ethnographic qualities as a work of art.
George W. O'Bannon suggests that the secondary element seen here is a stylization of the "Fritillaria Imperialis" or Crown Imperial flower and that since the Beshirs were more settled than nomadic they were more easily influenced by their immediate enviroment and more likely to depict their surroundings, such as plants and gardens. In the Beshir jollar O'Bannon uses as an example, it appears that the five pendulous flowerheads are issuing from the main element, similar to the manner in which they are depicted in our example. While this secondary motif is fairly uncommon as a trapping decoration, it can be seen in weavings of other formats from the region, such as a rug attributed to Bukhara illustrated in Von Uschak Bis Yarkand by Eberhart Herrmann (Herrmann, E., Von Uschak Bis Yarkand, Munich, p.148, no. 99).
Weft: wool, red brown to light brown, natural, Z2S, 2 shoots alternating
Pile: wool, Z2, assymetric knots, no warp depression, H8xV10
Sides: not original
Ends: top, remains of rust, salmon, sapphire and light blue fringe, symmetric jufti knotted on 4 warps; bottom, not original
Colors: rust, ivory, mid brown, light blue, sapphire, blue-green, pale yellow, salmon-tan
This unusual piece belongs to a small and extremely rare group of Ersari trappings with similar "double headed eagle" guls. There appear to be only two other published examples with this design, both of which seem to be later in date. One of these examples was sold at Lefevre & Partners, London on 6 April, 1984, lot 5, however, it does not have the extraordinary color balance and glowing, saturated color of the offered lot. The other example is in the unit of the TSSR, inv. no. K-180 (KP-999), (Hali, issue 37, p.39), yet it lacks the exquisite borders of this piece and is a bit more crowded in design.
It is tempting to see the main design element of this trapping in context of the controversial Zoroastrianism and "Great Bird" theories being supported and/or slandered in current carpet studies. Here, the main guls would represent the eagle rising triumphantly with spread wings, clutching in her talons the defeated serpent, represented by the small latchhook motif beneath each "eagle." However, such theories are better left to other forums and it is best to just appreciate the offered lot for its aesthetic and ethnographic qualities as a work of art.
George W. O'Bannon suggests that the secondary element seen here is a stylization of the "Fritillaria Imperialis" or Crown Imperial flower and that since the Beshirs were more settled than nomadic they were more easily influenced by their immediate enviroment and more likely to depict their surroundings, such as plants and gardens. In the Beshir jollar O'Bannon uses as an example, it appears that the five pendulous flowerheads are issuing from the main element, similar to the manner in which they are depicted in our example. While this secondary motif is fairly uncommon as a trapping decoration, it can be seen in weavings of other formats from the region, such as a rug attributed to Bukhara illustrated in Von Uschak Bis Yarkand by Eberhart Herrmann (Herrmann, E., Von Uschak Bis Yarkand, Munich, p.148, no. 99).