If you can dream it, we can weave it.
Custom area rugs by Tufenkian
Afghanistan was the first area that I studied
and when I sold rugs it was much of what I sold.
But over time I moved on in my studies and much
of my early work was lost or set aside. Now I am
attempting to reconstruct my earlier work and
pull things together while expanding and
correcting as I go along. I will use this page to
group and sort and as each section comes together
I will split them off into their own subject area
guide. So forgive my mess while I put it
together.
Odd
rugs of which there are few. Maybe a dozen at
most have turned up in the last 20 years and as
far as I know they all passed through Tom Cole's
hands. Doubtless he could tell us more and will
when he is ready. My personal theory is that they
are related to 2500 year old Tocharian sleeping
rugs found in the Tarim Basin area of the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Red China
(People's Republic of China). Further I suggest
that a remnant of the Tocharian people are now in
the polyglot that we know as Pashtun. The line of
descent would roughly be Tocharian to Wu Chi to
Gandaharan to Pashtun. Now that leaves out a lot
but takes in the high points. It also accounts
for the Tocahian traits scattered though the
Pashtun people.
The Kizil
Ajak were a sub or component tribe of the Ersari.
I have been working on a theory for several years
about the Ersari
and where they fit into the Turkmen Hierarchy.
With the help of a friend I have finally come to
the conclusion that Ersari and Azeri are
different spellings of the same world. That as
such the Ersari
is the direct political heirs of the Oghuz Turks
or that actually the Ersari
are the Oghuz or Azeri as I have theorized. The
Turkmen who came out of Central Asia into Persia
and the Ottoman Empire were Oghuz and now their
descendents speak a dialect of Northern or
Southern Azeri.
The Kizil Ajak are considered
to be one of the identifiable component tribes of
the old Ersari Confederation. The Kizil Ajak are
one of the Turkmen tribes in Northern Afghanistan
that was south of the Russian market influence in
the 19th century and consequently have a
distinctly different look.
The knot is an asymmetrical knot open to the
right with a ribbed back and a knot count of
under 130 (8 by 7).
The Russian invasion fundamentally changed
the nature of Afghan rugs and I mean in a more
substantial way than just war rugs. The old
economic system passed on farmers supporting
village craftsmen became increasingly unable to
handle the needs of the people as the war made
the economic systen disintegrate. To cope with
this millions of Afghans fled into neighboring
countries particularly Pakistan and then Iran.
Obviously the refugees were not going north into
Communist occupied land.
In Pakistan the money
poured in and the people were settled in camps
once the ability ogf the villages to absorb
refugees was saturated.
The Taimani people date back to the IL Khanid
dynasty era of Iran. In a fight over succession,
status, and power the 4 branches of the Mongol
people went to war.from them by the IL Khanid
Mongols. The Taimani were of the Golden Horde and
they became trapped in afghanistan after they
were seperated from them by the IL Khanid
Mongols. They were welcomed in to the Herat area
by the Khan of the Chagatai Mongols who allowed
them to stay.
This is a
video on an Afghan Beaded Bag from the Thea Sands
collection. This is very much a learning
experience for me. I bought a new camcorder and I
am starting to get the hang of this. I will be
trying more ambitious projects soon.
I am hoping
that by my talk December 6th I will be able to
record some of that presentation. I would also
like the chance to record some collections and
interview some dealers and collectors.
Andkhoi (population 28,000), in
the heart of Turkoman country, is a collection center of qaraqul
and many types of Turkoman rugs. Saruq, Qara Tekke and
Sulaiman are only a few of the important Turkoman tribal
rugs to be found in the rug serais of Andkhoi. Nancy
Hatch Dupree. An Historical Guide To Afghanistan.
Chapter21
