Julkhyrs – minimalist aesthetics in steppe art. Originally posted on Jozan 05 October 2011 - shared here with thanks to Dr. Elmira Gyul, Fine Arts Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Julkhyrs – the traditional Uzbek long-piled carpets – are popular among connoisseurs of Oriental art. Unlike the refined decor of Iranian carpets, the appearance of Julkhyrs are extremely laconic, strict, even brutal, both on drawings, and on colours. Their appearance surprisingly correspond to the style of modern minimalistic interiors, which has given a second life to these unique carpets.

Imitation animal hair blankets woven today by Kurdish men in the south eastern Turkish town of Siirt in Siirt province were probably produced in surrounding regions encompassing northern Iraq and western Iran as far south as Kuzestan for more than two thousand years. In the last few decades Turkish marketers sold these siirt battaniyesi into markets in Europe and the United States, indelibly linking the town of Siirt with the faux-fur blanket itself. Siirt has become the most recent place of production, by way of association these minimalist fur-like flat weaves with origins in antiquity have recently become known as siirt.

Siirt and Likhnyk blankets are woven inside the territories of early steppe nomads. Woven blankets that are then teased into a matted felt like finish resembling animal hides. The lizhnyk pummeled first by the power of water inside a Valylo before being treated with a teasle to raise the nap. A throwback to primitive techniques, these two blankets are still made today in the Ukraine and Turkey.

A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, the terminology associated with Central Asian Pieced-Skin Rugs or mats made of animal pelts, skins or hides.

In Bokhara Uzbekistan a "furred robe" was called a Choga, as noted in the 1903 glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases. At the same time in Afghanistan the word Posteen would have been used to describe a "furred robe". While in Tibet the word Chuba described a similar if not more cumbersome garment.

Hazara man sporting a well used coat similar in styling to the Pashtun Skin Coat of 1867 called a posteen. The edge of this coat appears to be embroidered with a narrow band using the recumbent S motif repeated along it's length. The fur is facing inwards and the outside of this posteen is covered with a patterned fabric, the lining being made from karakol sheep skin.