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This type of double bag,
called in popular parlance a saddlebag, would commonly have been
carried over the back - or more likely the shoulders - of a donkey,
usually having nothing to do with saddles and horses. In a semi-arid country
like Iran, donkeys are more often used by nomads than horses owing
to their hardiness and low-maintenance demands. With regard to the Azarbayjani nomads in particular, Richard Tapper has recently
written “Horses have always been valued as personal transport, but
they are something of a prestigious luxury.” 1
The charm of this complete transport bag, more correctly called a
khorjin, lies in the random color distribution among the
stepped polygons on its outward facing sides.
Pileless Azarbayjani bags of this type are usually decorated with
all-over sumakh patterning or woven with slit-tapestry forms. This
piece, however, combines weft-faced plainweave, slit-tapestry weave,
sumakh, brocading, and twining.
RET
1) Tapper, R. and
Thompson, J (Editors), The Nomadic Peoples Of Iran, London, 2002,
page 26
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