Turkmen Rugs: Guide to Salyr/Salor Turkmen Rugs

JBOC Attribution: Oriental Rugs > Turkmen Rugs > Salyr Rugs

Salor is the western trade name for the Salyr. The Salyr are one of the original tribes of the Ohguz confederation.

S-Group refers to a structurally distinct group of Turkmen weaving which are often attributed to the Salyr.

The S - Group argument stems back to the Thompson translation of the Bogolyubov book on Turkmen rugs.

Not everyone agrees that there is a one to one correlation between S-Group and Salyr see Peter E. Saunders, Tribal Visions

Salyr/Salor Turret Gul Chuval

Salyr/Salor Juval, part silk. Offered at Christie's, London, April 27, 1995, estimated at L4,000-9,000, sold for L8,000.

Seen on www.RugReview.com

South of Panjdeh, and before the junction of the Khushk and Murghab, is the beat of the “Salor," a Turkmen tribe, which Vambery calls the oldest recorded in history. He gives them 8,000 tents, and a reputation for bravery. On Journeys Between Herat, and Khiva by Goldsmid Page 18

Sarik. The clan, which in happier days possessed Merv, has been ousted from its post of vantage on the Murghab, and compelled to seek in the country to the south that sanctuary which the superiority of the Tekes obliged it to discover. Its head-quarters are now round Martshag or Merutshag; but it is highly improbable that this clan still possesses anything like the forty thousand persons which Professor Vambery estimated it to number. It is possible that the Salor have recognised the necessity of war and have become subservient to the domineering Tekes. The Turkmen by Demetrius Charles Boulger Part 4

Detail Salyr/Salor Turret Gul Chuval

S-Group Characteristics are:

Warps: 2ZS, ivory, browns or a brown- gray combination
Warp Colors: ivory, brown or a brown- gray
Weft: 2 shoots Z2S wool. First weft rigid second weft sinuous.
Weft Colors: red, brown or a brown- gray
Knot: Asymmetric open left, 125 – 300 knots per square inch.
Pile: wool - 2Z but 1Z, 2ZS, 3Z and 4Z, as well as silk is less often used 2Z, 3Z, 4Z, and 5Z
Sides: 2 cords of 2ZS, two cord blue or dark green wrapped or checkerboard.

Detail Salor Main Carpet

Nagel Salor Memling Gul Torba

Salor wool & silk Kapunuk

For a similar Kapunuk which is open left as this one is please see the Dudin Collection Salor Turkoman, Kapunuk

Detail W&W Circa 1900 Shemle Gul Salor Torba

The golden age of Salor weaving is considered by many to end circa 1825. The way some people describe it one might imagine that all the Salor died that year or at least stopped weaving. It is a touch more complicated. Many of today's Tekke and Saryk are descended from people who could once be properly described as Salor. Salor weave is generally open left and Tekke weave is open right. The Salor Kapunuk directly above is one of 5 known. The Salor Kapunuk above is open left but two of he 5 are open right. So when we go looking for Salor we can look to the tribes that made up the Salor confederation, the Salor, Tekke, Saryk, and the Arabatchi. The Salor trapping to the left is typical of the Salor pieces from the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Salar of China

"Reinhard F. Hahn says Salar is spoken by descendants of an Oghuz-Turkic-speaking sub-tribe that, in the 15th century area of Samarkand, split off a main tribe and 'returned eastward', eventually settling in Western China. Their language has an Oghuz Turkic base, has taken on a medieval Chaghatay Turkic stratum through Central Asian contacts and finally acquired a stratum of features from local languages. The people use Chinese as literary language. Bilingualism is reported high in Chinese, Uyghur, and Tibetan. An official nationality. SOV. Literacy rate in second language: 27%. Agriculturalists, animal husbandry, commerce. Sunni Muslim." http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SLR