Beshir Main Carpet

Earsari Turkmen Tribal Group

Middle Amu Darya Region -Central Asia
19th Century
188 x 267 cm

Late 19th century example of so-called Beshir “main” carpet. Woven by weavers of the Turkmen Ersari tribe, Beshir rugs are made in areas along the Amu Darya River from Bokhara/Samarkand in Uzbekistan and into northern Afghanistan. The Earsari are one of the five major tribes of the Turkmen people of Central Asia. All over patterns of large angular symmetrical motifs and stylized flowers feature predominately in designs in antique rugs from the Earsari.

The present carpet utilizes the quintessential and ubiquitous vertical and horizontal orientation of primary and secondary motifs according to each individual Turkmen tribe’s repertory of design vocabulary. In this case symmetrical rows of Persian inspired palmette blossoms alternating with stylized angular “gul” devices being interspaced by equally symmetrical rows of “dyrnak guls”*  as the secondary motif.

 Moderately fine woven with lush sumptuous sheep’s wool dyed with natural local dyes on a wool foundation.

 1)      * Dyrnak “guls” or flowers in Turkmen lexicon, are generally associate with the Yomoud Turkmen tribal group. According to Uwe Jourdan (Oriental Rugs Volume 5 Turkoman) “in contrast to dyrnak gul torbas, Beshir Earsari Main Carpets with the dyrnak gul are very rare”.

 2)      Published: HALI Magazine, London , issue 127,  March–April 2003, pp. 96,97.

Exhibiting at the International Conference on Oriental Carpets, ICOC X, 17-23 April 2003,  Washington D.C.