Ersari chuval

This remarkable Turkmen tent bag or ‘chuval’ combines tribal motifs with Central Asian textile traditions. Using exceptionally soft wool and superb saturated color, bands of ornament are drawn across the field. Foreground and background meld within the field as the saturated madder of the sides, top, and bottom portions gives way to alternating light and dark stripes. The fundamentals of this striated design may be traced to patterns originating in silk Central Asian ‘ikat’ textiles produced in urban centers such as Bukhara and traded throughout the region. While the majority of the diamond and hexagonal ornament seen here may also be traced to silk ikat models, one particular element, a cruciform terminating in latch-hooks, has deep roots within the weaving traditions of the nomads of Central Asia. The bottom skirt panel or ‘elem’ similarly draws a comb-like device seen in several groups of Turkmen weavings.