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The Varieties of Tribal Bags and
Panels
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Marla Mallett |
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| Nomads in Western and Central Asia have made bags
of many different types over the centuries. Their small formats offered endless design opportunities
for creative weavers, making them collectors' favorites. On this page I will show
a few of the kinds of flat-woven bags made
in Turkey, Persia, and the Caucasus. |
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Saddlebags |
Probably the most familiar to Westerners are
saddlebags with two decorated pouches. These were made in various
sizes, with the smallest examples used on donkeys.
Called heybe in Turkey, khorjin in Persia
and the Caucasus, they appear in a wide variety of
woven structures: tapestry, soumak, brocading,
knotted pile, weft substitution, and even occasionally warp substitution.
In western Anatolian Turkey, saddlebags
were commonly made with a long center bridge with a slit
down the center (below). Men sometimes slipped these over their
heads to serve as convenient shopping bags when in the
marketplace.
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Yünçü
slit-tapestry saddlebag. Northwest Anatolian
Turkey |
Zili brocade
saddlebag.
Azerbaijan |
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Larger saddlebags were made for use on horses and
camels. Some examples, particularly from Eastern Anatolian
Turkey, are huge. These are called hurç, and most
often have been brocaded or tapestry-woven.
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Brocaded
saddlebag. Kars area, NE Turkey. Similar pieces
were made
across the border in NW Persia.
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Large soumak saddlebags from Western Iran often
have knotted-pile sections along the bottom of each
pouch. Bakhtiari
examples are the best known (below). Small versions, with
combinations of soumak and knotted pile were also made
in
this area. |
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Bakhtiari soumak saddlebag with a knotted-pile panel
along
the bottom of each pouch |
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Saddlebags were normally woven in one long piece:
first the face for one pouch was woven, then a long section that
formed the back and center bridge, then the second pouch
face. The bag was assembled by
folding each end panel inward, then stitching along the
sides. The example at the right is as it came from the
loom. This piece simply was never stitched up to make a bag, but
had it been finished, it would have been folded over as
shown below. Because of the construction sequence,
the pile on
knotted-pile saddlebags lies in opposite
directions on the two decorated pouch faces.
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Herke
Kurd weaving as it came from the loom (right) and folded over
to make a saddlebag (above). Iraq
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With the earliest pieces, often only the saddlebag faces
have survived, or just half a saddlebag--a single pouch with both
face and back intact (left). These can be
important collectors' pieces. Occasionally, we find pairs of saddlebag faces.
Because of the popularity and rarity of early
Shahsevan soumak saddlebag faces, and the high prices commanded
by them, a market for carefully distressed Iranian fakes
has developed over the past 20 years. I've come across
such pieces prominently displayed in dealers' shops,
only to be disappointed by a close examination of them. |
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Malatya/Sinan
slit-tapestry
saddlebag pouch. Turkey |
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Mafrash - Bedding Bags |
In eastern Turkey, northwestern Persia and the
Caucasus, three-dimensional rectangular "boxy" bags have been
made by nomads for storage of bedding in their tents, and
for use as cargo bags. They were normally made in pairs
which could be balanced over the backs of camels on
migration. In the marketplace, these are often
dubbed beşik,
or "cradles," but we have only limited
evidence
of this use. Mafrash have
been made in the largest numbers by Shahsevan tribal
people and other groups
in NW Iran and across the border in Azerbaijan.
Others were made in Georgia and Armenia.
A majority are intricately woven soumak; others are slit-tapestry,
sometimes with narrow contrasting soumak bands.
Western collectors have found that these bags make striking small tables
or ottomans when up-ended over wooden boxes
or blocks of heavy foam rubber (below). |
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Borchaliu Mafrash upended. Georgia |
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Kazak mafrash panel. Azerbaijan
Kazak mafrash end panels
(below) |
Mafrash were woven in three parts, and
then assembled.
The main piece (left) included two long decorated
side panels, with a plain or striped center section which
formed the bottom of the bag. Two small squarish
decorated end panels (below left) were woven separately, normally side by side
on the loom.
It has become difficult to find complete early mafrash
in good condition, as these nomads' items were given
heavy use. With good 19th
century natural-dye examples, we normally have to settle for just
panels: the long sides, or short end panels. Sometimes we find pairs
of these, and occasionally a complete large panel (left) as it came from
the loom. These are sometimes sturdy enough to serve as small rugs. The mafrash "set"
of three pieces here
displays
slit tapestry, with small soumak bands.
Most of the mafrash and mafrash panels
available to us 25 or 30 years ago came from Iran--both
soumak and tapestry examples.
In 1990 and shortly thereafter, when the borders of Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Armenia opened, a good number of old Caucasian
soumak pieces appeared in the Istanbul market. Now these supplies have been
nearly exhausted, and once again it has become difficult to locate
good examples.
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Fine early soumak mafrash panels--either side or end
panels--are becoming truly rare, and are favorites of
collectors. .
Shahsevan soumak
mafrash panel. Azerbaijan |
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One unfortunate market-place practice
has resulted in the destruction of many Persian mafrash.
Iranian merchants, in an effort to make what they deemed
more saleable products, have frequently cut and sewed together
pairs of slit-tapestry mafrash side panels to make small
square "rugs" (below). They are
unsatisfactory both aesthetically and practically; the center stitching is rarely
strong enough to withstand use on the floor. Most of these
have been coarse, crude examples.
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Two Persian Shahsevan
mafrash panels cut and joined
in the center. This practice is
NOT recommended. |
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The term mafrash has been used
differently by Turkmen weavers--to refer to very small,
flat
knotted-pile rectangular tent bags. Uzbek and
Kyrgyz nomads have made rectangular "box-like"
mafrash, however, some of knotted pile, others
embroidered, like the panel below.
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Uzbek embroidered
mafrash side panel.
Uzbekistan |
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Storage Sacks - Ala Çuval |
Virtually all Middle Eastern and Central Asian
nomads and villagers have woven storage sacks, but a
majority are simple, plain, utilitarian bags. Among the
most highly decorated and most "collectible" are those from Anatolian Turkey.
Ala çuval are decorated sacks made in two major
different kinds of formats in Turkey. This word,
properly written with a cedilla under the c, is pronounced like a ch., i.e. "chuwal.")
The first type of ala çuval
has a decorated front--usually with horizontal bands of brocading,
tapestry, or combination of the two. The backs were typically decorated with simpler bands. They
were woven in one long piece, then folded over at the
bottom and stitched
up the sides. Usually card-woven straps were sewed
onto the sides to use as handles (right). In some
examples, the bottom corners were tucked in and stitched
to make the
piece stand up better (below right). These pieces are
often dubbed "grain
sacks" but they more often held clothing and other
possessions. In any case, they were given very
hard use and so most have survived in quite ragged
condition. |
Yagçebedir ala
çuval. Northwest
Turkey
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Kilaz ala
çuval, Bergama area of NW
Turkey. Photo, Pinkwart and Steiner,
Bergama Çuvallari. |
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Yünçü ala
çuval. Northwest
Turkey |
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| When we encounter these bags, they have often been
opened as they were when they came from the loom.
Some of these ala çuval are among the loveliest of
antique Anatolian weavings. They are wonderful as
hangings, but also can sometimes serve as small rugs. |
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Maras ala
çuval. Southeast Turkey |
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Frequently, just the center decorated section
of an old ala çuval has survived.
Exquisite examples can be important collectors' pieces.
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Maras
ala
çuval fragment. Reciprocal
brocading. Southeastern
Turkey. |
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Salt Bags |
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These specialized bags appear in limited
quantities, and were made in just a few areas--primarily Persia
and Afghanistan. They are tough, durable little
bags made with a variety of techniques, but most often
brocading, soumak or weft substitution. With
narrow necks that prevented their contents from spilling, they posed
special design challenges for the weaver. They
were most likely not all used for salt, but that
label has stuck. |
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Shahsevan salt bag. Azerbaijan |
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| Chanta |
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Small bags for personal items have appeared
erratically throughout the weaving areas. Virtually any
structure
can appear in these:
soumak, brocading, weft-substitution, tapestry, or
combinations of these structures. |
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Raşvan
brocaded
çanta.
Eastern Turkey |
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Qashqai
chanta. S.Persia |
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Yastiks |
Woven pillow covers have been made by many
groups. A long piece was woven, first the front and then
the back. Once off the loom, it was folded over in
the center and the two long sides sewed up, leaving one end open.
A variety of techniques have been used--tapestry, brocading,
knotted-pile, weft-substitution, and less frequently,
soumak. The most
well known are Turkish yastiks and Baluch balischt.
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Baluch balischt. Weft-substitution weave
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Ercinçan
slit-tapestry
yastik face.
Northeastern Turkey |
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