Walking to Eastern Turkestan

This grueling walk, beginning near the fabled Khyber Pass and passing within sight of one of the world's highest peak, K2, is only possible during a few months of the year. On the return, the carpets were packed on trucks and concealed in other merchandise.

The carpets woven in Eastern Turkestan have been known in the West as Samarkand and in the Orient as Kansu because those towns were the western and eastern depots on the trade routes, becoming the places from which the carpets were marketed.

In the oasis towns of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan, the two Pathans visited homes of the owners of carpets, in many cases the families of the weavers. They and others of their Pashtu-speaking family have also collected rugs in other towns on the string of oases, among them Karakach, Yourungkach, and the Shanbe Bazaar in Keriya, further East.

Carpet sizes range from 4'7"x7'9", with a design of a single animal almost filling the field, to the largest at 6'10"x12'10". This format is suitable for use in the flat-roofed domiciles whose main room contains a wrap-around platform, creating a four-sided divan. In this supa (Arabic) or aivan (farsi), carpets were laid on the remainder of the floor or hung on the walls, an arrangement which, according to Hans Bidder, has not changed in thousands of years. A member of the "walking" family observed that often all four walls were hung with carpets of this size. Many of the carpets in the Zahiri group have added ties on their selvages, witness to their use as wall rugs. The designs of these carpets can be grouped. One type features a single lion or tiger and is borderless. These designs were usually hung on the wall and must have presented a dramatic sight to visitors to these interiors. Another type depicts grouped animals -- lions, tigers, fu dogs, and cranes -- and confronting or stalking animals in geometricized landscapes. A third type features still lives and landscapes, frontally drawn. Less common are designs referring to French or other European carpets; they might have been commissioned. Those carpets were collected in Adiol. The carpet in Illustration 1 is typical of those from Yarkand, and the carpet in Illustration 3 was woven in Yarkand. The subject has references to Tibetan Buddhism; the florets in the corners of the field are typical of Yarkand design. The carpet in Illustration 2 was woven in Khotan. It and others like it are obviously very different from the centuries-old designs of published Khotan carpets discussed by Hans Bidder, Murray Eiland, Jr., and George O'Bannon. Those were classed as vase-pomegranate motifs; one-two-or-three medallion designs; boxed gul designs. None are related to the designs of the circa 1920 pieces under discussion here.

Further research might disclose information on the origins of these newer designs. What is known is that there seems to have been no patterns or pattern masters. The weaving was domestic and done by women. I have been unable to discover when the weaving of these designs was discontinued.

All the carpets examined have cotton foundations and were Persian knotted to the left. Additional information about structure and other technical aspects of these carpets would be welcome. As to color, the opinion of the collecting families is that the hot, vibrant colors are all natural dyes. If that could be established, it might help to stimulate interest among U.S. collectors in these fascinating carpets from the southwestern oasis towns of East Turkestan.

The carpets woven in Eastern Turkestan have been known in the West as Samarkand and in the Orient as Kansu because those towns were the western and eastern depots on the trade routes, becoming the places from which the carpets were marketed.

Yarkand, 20th century. Note references to Tibetan Buddhism. The corners of the field are typical of Yarkand design.

Khotan, 20th century. In a geometricized landscape, two tigers cross paths.

Notes