43

Tekke, Turkmenistan
Face of a Small Bag (mafrash), mid-19th century

Small bags for storing personal effects were made by Turkmen weavers in a variety of designs. The three white-ground panels of this Tekke mafrash are filled with plant forms. On some bags with this design, the plants are rendered with end-to-end symmetry, but in the most powerful pieces, such as this one, they sprout vigorously upwards. Originally they may have represented trees flanked by pairs of birds or animals, an ancient and widespread motif that has survived more recognizably on the Chodor trapping in this exhibition (cat. no. 41). Like the Tekke main carpet also exhibited here (cat. no. 42), this mafrash face has exceptionally soft, glossy wool pile. It once had a flatwoven extension that was folded back and sewn to it along the short ends to form the pouch. The back panels of many storage and transport bags, plainer than the fronts and of no use to Western buyers, were removed by importers.

J.B.