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.

Rams Horn Motif Uzbek Julkhirs Samarkand Circa 1870

Merchant seated on Uzbek Julkhirs Circa 1870 Samarkand

“Bakkal” Samarkand from the Turkestan Album 1871 – 1872. This Julkhirs Bearskin rug dates from about 1870. The merchant is seated on the Julkhirs which has a Rams Horn motif as a main border. The rams horn motif was popular as a border on Julkhirs. In this merchants store we see carefully laid out items and the Julkhirs plays an important role in the merchant’s life. There are many images of people in Samarkand with less fortunate circumstances than this merchant, many seated on rags rather than rugs. Purchasing a Julkhirs at the markets in Samarkand would have required access to more cash than some had at their disposal.

The rams horn motif illustrated in the colour images are of a similar julkhirs rug. The rams horn motifs on the border of both rugs is identical, woven by semi nomadic Uzbeks on a narrow beam loom, near Samarkand and traded in the Samarkand market. The rams horn motif or "Kuchkorak" is an ancient motif, found on many textiles including leather cutouts and felts from the Pazyryk burials of the Iron Age Scythian Horsemen.¹ Petroglyphs carved out of rock by Stone Age and Bronze age inhabitants of the region reveal the use of the Rams Horn as a motif. "Prehistoric art in Central Asia is the so-called ‘animal style’, which was connected with the early Iranian nomads described by the Greeks as Scythians and the Persians as Sakas. The distinct characteristics of the animal style were applied in various media, like wood or metal objects (especially gold), as well as in rock art."² The Zoomorphic representation of rams horns as a motif was widespread amongst many Central Asian people and rendered in recent weavings in the same archaic style as the rams horns of the Scythians.

IMAGES

1 Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Turkestan Album 1871 – 1872 Melochnaia torgovlia. Melochnaia lavka (bakkal') [reproduction

number, LC-DIG-ppmsca-14806] digital file from original photo.

Notes: “Bakkal” translated from Arabic means “store”, original print ALBUMEN.

Illus. In: Turkestanskii al’bom, chast’ etnograficheskaia…, 1871-1872.

REFERENCES

1. Rudenko, Sergei I. Frozen tombs of Siberia: The Payzryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen Berkley and Los Angeles University Press, 1970.

2. Rozwadowski , A. The forgotten art of ancient Uzbekistan p.2

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.

The Fabric Merchant of Samarkand

 

The Fabric Merchant of Samarkand's Julkhirs ¹

Two Julkhirs in use on the floor of a fabric merchant’s store in Samarkand Circa 1910 silk, cotton and wool fabrics as well as a framed page of the Koran are hung on the wall.

Prokudin-Gorskii employed a unique colour photographic process to capture the image of the Samarkand cloth merchant. Three glass negatives exposed simultaneously, described as triple-frame images made with colour seperation filters. The effect can be seen at the edge of the image. In post production the negatives were sandwiched together to create a colour composite. We are fortunate to have access to these early colour images.

The two Julkhirs shown in this image are typical of early 20^th Century production where Julkhirs were produced using synthetic dyes. In some the dyes are extremely unstable and bright garish colours were used, presumably a shortcut to emulate the deeply saturated naturally dyed 19^th century examples.  Compare the image to the right to the one at the front of the fabric merchants store – this rug has all of the problems associated with the use of these dyes.

See also Moshkova for other example illustrated dating from the beginning of the twentieth century.²

1 Image: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-prokc-21725]

2. Moshkova  V. G.  Carpets of the People of Central Asia (George O’Bannon,  Arizona Lithographers Tucson, Arizona, 1996 pp,. 78,86