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After the collapse of the Soviet Union,
previously rare or unknown types of weaving came out of the
Transcaucasus that included pile-woven saltbags from Qarabagh in the
present-day Republic of Azerbaijan.1
This piece, old and tattered and with some of its neck rewoven, has
its original back and some of its side closures (“join”). On the
basis of comparison with pile rugs, it is probable the saltbag comes
from “mountain Qarabagh”. It could well be Armenian,2 since there
exists a number of similar pile saltbags with Armenian inscriptions,
some showing Armenian village names. One has to wonder why these
pile saltbags were hidden away and not sold in the West during
previous times.
Wendel Swan points out that this saltbag’s hooked central design on
a dark brown field with birds in the corners echoes a similar design
concept used in small Fars pile-woven bags that is well illustrated
by Black and Loveless.3
Although animal and bird forms are often reduced to symmetrical
geometrical devices in corners of rugs and bagfaces as their meaning
is lost, here they are readily recognizable.
RET
1) Azerbaijan is in the Transcaucasus, that is,
above the Aras river for most of its length, and was a republic
in the Soviet Union until its dissolution. It is now an independent
republic (entitled the Republic of Azerbaijan). East and West Azarbayjan have long been the northernmost
provinces of northwest Iran, although East Azarbayjan is now broken
into two administrative sections. Under the Safavids and up until
the early years of the Qajar dynasty, the two areas on each side of
the Aras were under a single regime. At this point, they have been
separated for almost two hundred years. Differences in spelling
between these neighboring areas are the result of different
transliteration conventions adhered to on each side of the border.
2) In which case it would be more properly called "aghaman"
or possibly "duztorbasi" - see the
exhibit glossary for more details.
3) Black, D. and Loveless C., Woven
Gardens, London, 1979, plates 39, 41 & 42.
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