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Unknown Maker, Turkmen

Bag face (chuval)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Turkmen

Culture

Turkmen

Title

Bag face (chuval)

Year

1800s

Medium

  • Wool; plain weave,
  • knotted pile

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Wool; plain weave,
  • knotted pile

Materials

wool

Geography

Place Made: Central Asia

Dimensions

69.8 x 114.9 cm (27 1/2 x 45 1/4 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

1986.223.5

Type

  • Textiles

Exhibition History

Legacy of the Silk Road
Domestic Embroideries from the Caucasus and Central Asia
Feb 17, 2006 – May 28, 2006

Label copy

As opposed to the underlying lattice structure that guides the eye, in this case the medallions are freed to form a new design language. In the bag face, the name for the quartered, octagonal motif (gul) translates as "flower" and indicates the particular Turkmen tribe to which the weaver belongs. In the adjacent Southern Caucasus cover, the repeating designs, although also derived from floral imagery, show an abstracted approach that favors experimentation and movement.

Despite their being made on opposite sides of the Caspian Sea, both pieces share a common design influence: the roundels on woven silk fabrics made and traded by Persian Sasanians, Central Asian Sogdians, Byzantines, and the Chinese.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Turkmen
Bag face (chuval), 1800s
Wool; plain weave, knotted pile
69.8 x 114.9 cm (27 1/2 x 45 1/4 inches)
Anonymous gift 1986.223.5

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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