Samarkand Uzbek Julkhirs Primitive Rug

Chest Vendor seated on Uzbek Julkhirs, Julkhyrs primitive rug Samarkand Zaravshan district between 1865 and 1872 from the Turkestan Album.

The high pile of the Julkhirs was favoured by some nineteenth Century merchants of Samarkand, the obvious attraction being a more comfortable rug  for the long hours seated at the market place.

Variations of the motifs woven into this Julkhirs were repeated up to the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Some examples which followed were created with wool dyed in extremely bright and garish synthetic dyes, including a dazzling bright yellow, ultra bright deep green representative of a Christmas tree gone wrong, a dark cherry red and super saturated crimson plus an overwhelming bright pink.

Images from The Turkestan Album and those created by Prokudin-Gorskii give us a snapshot of life in Samarkand between 1865 and 1910, backing up Moshkova's ^1. observations in Carpets of the People of Central Asia.

Below are all of the images published so far on this blog of Julkhirs in use in Samarkand during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century.

^1. Moshkova, V. G.  Carpets of the People of Central Asia. George O’Bannon,  Arizona Lithographers Tucson, Arizona, 1996. 83

Image Attributions:

Courtesy of the Library of Congress,
LC-DIG-ppmsca-14869, LC-DIG-prokc-21725,
LC-DIG-ppmsca-14711,             
LC-DIG-prokc-21753 - LC-DIG-prok-11753,
LC-DIG-ppmsca-14806

Illus. in: Turkestanskīĭ alʹbom, chastʹ
ėtnograficheskai︠a︡...,
1871-1872, part 2, vol. 2, pl. 144.

Uzbek Julkhirs

 

Uzbek Julkhirs  probably from Northern Afghanistan or Southern Uzbekistan, woven in the first quarter of the twentieth Century. There is some tip fading, the original dye colours are more vivid at the base of the knots. The probable use of synthetic dyes and subsequent fading has resulted in a muted colour range. The lightest wool colour is natural undyed camel hair. Use of the rhombus as a design element was common in Julkhirs in this rug delineated by the dark brown sheep wool, diagonal lattice design.  This example shows particularly poor rendering of the rhomboid shapes creating a primitive rug with naive qualities.

The warp faced back is typical of julkhirs rugs, this one woven using a common method, wool warps and wefts are paired singles.

Julkhirs in Mosque Courtyard - Mudaris Samarkand

 

 Julkhirs Bearskin Rug in Mosque Courtyard Mudaris Samarkand Circa 1910

An Uzbek Julkhirs used as a seating rug in the courtyard of a mosque. Julkhirs in Uzbekistan at the beginning of the 20^th century were documented by Prokudin-Gorskiĭ, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich, 1863-1944, photographer. These early Julkhirs images compliment those shot by Dudin and ethnographic data collected by Moshkova, Semenov and Dudin. Julkhirs were sold at the markets of Bukhara and Samarkand. ¹  "Julkhirs served as floor covering near the hearth or cooking/heating brazier. However, the rug collection of the Uzbekistan Museum of Art contains a julkhirs in the shape of a long, wide runnner, probably intended for a rich mehmankhana (geust house). It is thus possible that rugs of this type were produced not only for purely domestic use but for the market as well."² The fabric merchant of Samarkand and the students in the Mudaris courtyard illustrate how julkhirs were used in a domestic setting, the long pile would provide a more comfortable and soft surface when seated for long periods and explains one reason why julkhirs proved so popular. "The distribution of the julkhirs, designated by identical or similar terms in the Samarqand Oblast, suggests that the geographic extent of this rug type was once rather great, although their production apparantly never exceeded the limits of the local market. " ³

Shoes are not worn whilst seated and books are placed on the rug. Used together with other rugs on the ground. This Julkhirs is new and typical of early 20^th century production.

IMAGES:

1 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collection, [reproduction number: LC-DIG-prokc-21753 - LC-DIG-prok-11753] Views in Central Asia, Russian Empire, LOT 10338, no. 124.

REFERENCES:

1. Moshkova  V. G.  Carpets of the People of Central Asia  George O’Bannon,  Arizona Lithographers Tucson, Arizona, 1996 p.83 (Dudin noted this sometime between 1910 and 1914.)

2.  ibid., p.83.

3.  ibid., p.83.