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Lot Essay
Turkmen embroidered asmalyks are among the most beautiful and enigmatic of tribal trappings and rarely appear at auction. The group were re-evaluated however a few years ago by Danny Shaffer and Penny Oakley, 'Recognition and reconsideration', Hali 180, pp.125-127, following the inclusion of three examples in a Sotheby's auction in New York on 31 January, 2014, lots 60-62.
Very little is known about this group of embroideries and the dating and attribution of them has often been largely the preserve of educated guesswork. The published examples are almost exclusively attributed to the Tekke tribe, due in no small part to the initial attribution of the Russian ethnographer and collector Dudin. At the turn of the 20th century Dudin acquired an embroidered asmalyk in Merv at the same time as the Tekke were there and as a result attributed it to them. In the Shaffer/Oakley article thirteen different types of embroidered asmalyk are identified, thus showing the wide variety of designs within the group. The camel coloured field and the dynamic abstract arrangement of the red and pink silk embroidered flowers and buds are different to the other predominantly floral and figurative embroideries of the other types, which would suggest a different tribal origin.
Interestingly, the first published example of the group relates closely to the present lot (see Michael Franses, 'Embroidered Tekke Asmalyk', Turkoman Studies I, London, 1980, fig.352, pp.164-165). It was published by A. Leix in the Ciba Review, 1941, and attributed to the Salor; he wrote that the 'Pentagonal pieces were embroidered by the Salor'. Another very similar asmalyk to the present lot, but with a greater amount of foliate detail, is in the Collection of the former Museum of Peoples, Moscow, attributed to the Salor and published in Dennis R. Dodds and Murray L. Eiland, Jr., Oriental Rugs From Altantic Collections, Philadelphia, 1996, pl.125, p.119. In the accompanying note the author identifies the special finish of plain weave sewn on with silk embroidery as the aspect of the design that makes it Salor - a feature that our example is lacking but likely once had. Another related example is published by Eberhart Herrmann as Tekke in Seltene Orientteppiche VII, Munich, 1985, pl.84a, pp.182-183. A comparable example displaying the additional material surround with long braided fringes was offered, Christie's London, 7 October 2104, lot 11.
The origin of the design of the embroidered asmalyk remains unclear but an appealing theory has been put forward by Penny Oakley that the design of embroidered asmalyks, like suzanis, may have been influenced by Mughal pashmina shawl border designs (Penny Oakley, 'On silk street', Hali 176, Summer 2013, p.84). While this remains to be seen, the correlation between the large shrub and poppy ornamentation of mughal shawls and the embroidered shrub asmalyks is interesting and persuasive.
Very little is known about this group of embroideries and the dating and attribution of them has often been largely the preserve of educated guesswork. The published examples are almost exclusively attributed to the Tekke tribe, due in no small part to the initial attribution of the Russian ethnographer and collector Dudin. At the turn of the 20th century Dudin acquired an embroidered asmalyk in Merv at the same time as the Tekke were there and as a result attributed it to them. In the Shaffer/Oakley article thirteen different types of embroidered asmalyk are identified, thus showing the wide variety of designs within the group. The camel coloured field and the dynamic abstract arrangement of the red and pink silk embroidered flowers and buds are different to the other predominantly floral and figurative embroideries of the other types, which would suggest a different tribal origin.
Interestingly, the first published example of the group relates closely to the present lot (see Michael Franses, 'Embroidered Tekke Asmalyk', Turkoman Studies I, London, 1980, fig.352, pp.164-165). It was published by A. Leix in the Ciba Review, 1941, and attributed to the Salor; he wrote that the 'Pentagonal pieces were embroidered by the Salor'. Another very similar asmalyk to the present lot, but with a greater amount of foliate detail, is in the Collection of the former Museum of Peoples, Moscow, attributed to the Salor and published in Dennis R. Dodds and Murray L. Eiland, Jr., Oriental Rugs From Altantic Collections, Philadelphia, 1996, pl.125, p.119. In the accompanying note the author identifies the special finish of plain weave sewn on with silk embroidery as the aspect of the design that makes it Salor - a feature that our example is lacking but likely once had. Another related example is published by Eberhart Herrmann as Tekke in Seltene Orientteppiche VII, Munich, 1985, pl.84a, pp.182-183. A comparable example displaying the additional material surround with long braided fringes was offered, Christie's London, 7 October 2104, lot 11.
The origin of the design of the embroidered asmalyk remains unclear but an appealing theory has been put forward by Penny Oakley that the design of embroidered asmalyks, like suzanis, may have been influenced by Mughal pashmina shawl border designs (Penny Oakley, 'On silk street', Hali 176, Summer 2013, p.84). While this remains to be seen, the correlation between the large shrub and poppy ornamentation of mughal shawls and the embroidered shrub asmalyks is interesting and persuasive.