TURKMEN RUGS
A guide to aesthetics
by George W. O'Bannon

Former editor of Oriental Rug Review George O'Bannon is a well-known scholar of Turkmen rugs, and has written numerous publications on the subject including The Turkoman Carpet (1974), From Desert and Oasis, Arts of the People of Central Asia (1998), and the translation of Moshkova's Carpets of the People of Central Asia.

Some parameters and reflection for evaluating the enigmatic beauty of gul rugs. All Turkmen collectors undoubtedly have their own selection of the 'greatest Turkmen weavings.' Among mine are The Textile Museum's Yomud chuval gol main carpet, the Met's Ballard Arabachi chuvals..

With a degree in the history of art and a specialisation in Indian art from the University of Berkeley, Adjap Bairieva is a research assistant at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. She has helped curate several exhibitions on central Asian art. Chirpy, Kurteh and other traditional clothing in an essay which presents technique and decoration. Apart from carpets, the second most brilliant expression of Turkmen arts, crafts, and culture is the national women's dress. It represents a valuable means of understanding the ethnic history and culture of Turkmenistan. This stems principally from the fact that women continue to wear the traditional national costume. It is an interesting fact that the style of women's, children's, and men's costume is perfectly adapted to their lifestyle and climate and has hardly changed over the centuries. Turkmen women wear clothes made from homespun silk of different types of cloth. For daily wear, a simple shift dress is worn. It is made from a type of silk cloth called keteni...

A continuation of the description of the main types of sari and their decorations that are used in India. Analysing South Asia's saris from a regional perspective has proved to be the most effective way of gaining an understanding of the complexity of textile types found there. For our purposes, South Asia can be divided into six different regions. Although many regions are specifically within the nation of India, national boundaries are often blurred as the textile cultures, if we can call them that, are more influenced by geographical environment than national lines. For instance, despite its Islamic national focus, the traditional textile culture of Bangladesh is virtually identical to that of eastern India, in particular West Bengal and Bihar...