Turkmen Bag Face
Unknown Artist
1800s
Medium
Wool, silk, cotton; 252 symmetrical rug knots per square inch
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.889,"width":1.27,"length":0.889}}
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Arlene C. Cooper
Accession Number
2008.223
About this artwork
The front of this bag, called a bag face, displays the distinctive hallmarks of the Saryk tribe. The main guls, or lobed motifs, are subdivided in quadrants and alternate with angular minor guls in staggered rows. It is the oldest known weaving of the Saryk tribe, with a soft red ground color and white cotton and magenta silk pile highlights. Essential storage containers, bags were suspended from wall trellises inside tents and transported by pack animals during seasonal migrations. Bags were wo...