Salor Chuval

Salor Chuval
138 x 83 cm (4' 6" x 2' 9")
Turkmenistan, ca. 1800
Condition: good according to age, mostly good pile, both ends partially slightly incomplete, several small repairs, selvages rebound, signs of use
Published: „Gewebt und geknüpft V, die Pracht der Saloren", Georg Butterweck, 2013, plate 32
and "Textil Kunst Feuer, Teppiche und Textilien aus österreichischen Privatsammlungen", TKF 2002, plate 69/1
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool with silk highlights

The deep tent bags made by the Salor tribes that use three large Salor güls are among the most iconic of all Turkmen chuval types. After defeats by Persian tribes and domination by Tekke Turkmen tribes in the first half of the 19th century, the Salor gül, according to the Soviet anthropologist V. G. Moshkova, changed from a 'live' tribal emblem into a 'dead' design.
It was subsumed into the Saryk and Tekke tribes' weaving vocabulary.
At that point the grandeur, scale and power of the motif was lost owing to the weaving proportion moving away from the ideal vertical to horzontal knot ratio, 1:1, achieved by the Salor; and the classic interaction that we see here between primary and secondary güls, field and ornament and colouration and materials was subverted.
This example exemplifies the earlier style, with a hint of the endless repeat of the field design as the güls repeat diagonally beyond the borders, and the use of blue and cochineal silk to highlight the outlines of alternate güls.

Estimate: € 20000 - 30000