An Origin of Gabbeh Patterns?

Left Cave painting, Brazil, c. 15,000 BC Right Gabbeh, Bakhtiari, 1880 A.D., G.D. Bornet Collection, Inv. No. 1570

Certain theories suggest connections with the past, but these refer to intricate designs whose development springs from more ancient forms rather than from originality. In my "Reflections of the Collector" in the book Gabbeh by Tanavoli and Amanolahi1 on the second part of my collection, I wrote, "The source of the original often lies in the distant past, most works created represent rather variations on already existing themes."

The two cave paintings shown here seem to represent such rare originals.2 The oldest testimonies of the visual language of mankind can be found in cave paintings and sculptures dated to the end of the Paleolithic Age (40,000 B.C., the appearance of Homo sapiens, to 10,000 B.C.). Besides small figurines and more or less stylized animals, ideograms began to turn up.

Left Cave painting, France, c. 15,000 BC Right Gabbeh, Boir Ahmad, 1980 A.D. G.D. Bornet Collection, Inv. No. 676

Prehistoric ideograms are now being found all over the world. What is amazing is their stylistic analogy which forces the viewer to consider transcultural prototypes which, as C.G. Jung defined it, are stored in the collective mind of Homo sapiens. Many of the abstractions, ideograms, and constructivistic/concrete forms used at that period turn up from time to time, and art of this century seems to live off this fact to a not unimportant degree, be that consciously or unconsciously. Think of the match-stick men of A.R. Penk or the concrete paintings of Max Bill, who calls his style "reflections of the spirit."

Some of these patterns have existed almost uninterruptedly to these days, primarily on pottery and textiles. In these three comparisons of cave paintings to gabbehs, one cannot deny that the resemblance is striking. The Egyptian pattern is most likely a pictogram representing water. I know of much earlier zigzag painting, though none as attractive, where the ideogrammed character seems to be certain.

In my third, and probably last, book on gabbehs, planned to appear in 1994, I shall deal more profoundly with the subject.

Left Pictogram, Egypt, ca. 2,000 B.C. Right Gabbeh, Qashqa'i, 1950 A.D. G.D. Bornet Collection, Inv. Nr. 882

NOTES 1. Gabbeh, Tanavoli and Amanolahi, Switzerland, 1990.
2. The first two paintings are published in the excellent and comprehensive book on cave paintings, La Préhistoire, by Denis Vialou, Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1991.