Timuri Rugs

Background / History

Barulatai son of Qaci’u was the founder of the Mongol Clan Barulas. There were several men of Clan Barulas who were instrumental in the selection of Temujin as Qan. As Qan we know Temujin as Cinggis Qahan (Ghengis Khan) the single greatest conqueror in the history of warfare. As clan leaders in the Mongol Horde that predate Cinggis Qahan as Qan the Barulas leaders were among the elite of the most elite group that conquered most of the known world.

After the death of Cinggis Qahan clan Barulas went with the second son of the Qan, Ca’adai (Chagatai). For some odd reason the Horde of Ca’adai is not usually counted as Mongols and are instead called Chagatai Turks. They were as much Mongols as any other Mongol but I will use the familiar usage. The Chagatai Turks ruled Transoxiana present day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. The control of the Chagatai Horde staid in the hands of cingissid khans that is direct descendants of Cinggis Qan through his son Ca’adai until the reign (1346-63) of Tughlug Timur the last independent Chagatai Khan in Transoxiana.

Timur Barulas a Barulas prince was born in Kesh (Shahr-i-Sabz, Uzbekistan). Tughlug Timur came under increasing pressure from the Moghols of Mogholistan and by 1363 he was weakened enough that Timur Barulas expelled Khan Tughlug Timur and set up a puppet Cingissid Khan. This marked the conversion of the Chagatai Turks to the Timurid or Timuri.

Examples:
Timuri Yaqub Khani main Carpet mid 19th C. Rippon-Boswell
TIMURI MAIN CARPET
Description: TIMURI MAIN CARPET

Origin: Central Asia, Northwest Afghanistan, mid 19th c.
Size: ca. 237 x 168 cm
Notes on Condition
Rare main carpet of the Yaqub Khani tribe, very well drawn, glossy pile, deep saturated colours. -Remains of the striped kilim ends are still present; sides not original, shirazi replaced; heavily corroded browns.


The Hazara Gallery Baluch Timuri Prayer Rug 2nd half 19th C.
The Hazara Gallery Baluch Timuri Prayer Rug 2nd half 19th C.
Baluch Timuri Prayer Rug,
Herat area 2nd half 19th century


Timuri Baluch Prayer Rug C. 1900
Timuri Baluch Prayer Rug
Timuri Baluch Prayer Rug
Heart area circa 1900
3-2 x 4


Timuri Rugs: The Craycraft Timuri Bag Face
Timuri Rugs: The Craycraft Timuri Bag Face
I spotted this Timuri Bag Face on www.Coludband.com from my old friend Michael Craycraft.

Trusted Resource List – Rug & Carpet Dealers Outside The U.S.Galerie Arabesque and Michael Craycraft.
detail Timuri Rugs: The Craycraft Timuri Bag Face
Michael did not bother to describe this piece, not even giving size. He really didn’t have to, the Bag speaks for its self. This bags are always larger in size than an average Khordjin panel and have outstanding silky wool. The backs are generally ribbed and medium depressed with brown wefts. Cotton is a sign of a late piece. Peter Saunders published a related pieced which he labeled “Probably Afghahistan Mushwanee Tribal Visions Plate 15b.

Timuri Rugs: The Craycraft Timuri Bag Face close up

Michael CraycraftI like Michael Craycraft. I am amazed by his vast and varied work. Great to see he is back in business. Besides his vast knowledge of the tribes of Central Asia he has an eye for beauty.
Trusted Resource List – Rug & Carpet Dealers In The U.S.
“Mushwani Rugs”, Chicago: ACOR II,1996
“Turkoman Roundtable”, Chicago: Panelist ACOR II, 1996
Michael Craycraft & Halley, A. Belouch Prayer Rug. 1983,
Craycraft, Michael: Belouch Prayer Rugs. Pt. Reyes St.: 1982.
Michael Craycraft 1991 Baluch Perspectives, Hali, issue 59, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 112-117.
The Qarai Rugs of Turbat-i-Haidari, Oriental Rug Review, vol. 9, no. 2, December/January, pp. 50-56. 1989
I have this theory that clearly commercial Baluch rugs are like to have more colors and more use of commercial dyes. For instance in this rug there is relatively little blue since blue was not native to Khorasan and the weaver had to buy it to use it. The red is obviously Madder and was available locally so it is used more. Even if the dyer bought the red in town or had it dyed by a professional dyer local dyes are less expensive than Indigo that had to be imported from India. The white and brown were also colors available locally. Brown wool could have been used undyed but it was usually dyed and the dye used caused it to be brittle so the brown usually wears first. Brown wool dyed brown was the least expensive dyed wool available and was widely used.


A Timurid Cloudband tile panel
London, UK. Bond Street, Arts of the Islamic World
A Timurid Cloudband tile panel
Arts of the Islamic World Including 20th Century Middle Eastern Painting

A fragmentary Timurid mosaic tile panel

London, Bond Street 

DESCRIPTION

A fragmentary Timurid mosaic tile panel, Persia, 15th century the irregularly shaped fragment decorated with a mosaic-work design of stylized cloud scrolls in yellow on a black ground 19.5 cm.; mounted


A Timurid Cuerda Seca Pottery Star Tile
London, UK. Bond Street, Arts of the Islamic World
A Timurid Cuerda Seca Pottery Star Tile
Sotheby’s catalogue descriptionLive Auctions » Arts of the Islamic World including 20th Century Middle Eastern Paintings 

A Timurid Cuerda Seca Pottery Star Tile

DESCRIPTION

A Timurid Cuerda Seca pottery star tile, Persia, 15th century, decorated in cobalt-blue, turquoise, manganese, reddish brown and gold leaf, the radiating design of two interlocking ten-pointed stellar motifs, each point surmounted by abstracted trefoils, the centre with a six pointed star
35.5 cm. diameter


A Timurid or earlier jade cup Sotheby’s
A Timurid or earlier jade cup Sotheby's
A Timurid jade cup
Persia, 15th century or earlier
London, Bond Street
MEASUREMENTS
12cm.

DESCRIPTION
of dark green stone, worked in a cinquefoil deep rounded form in imitation of a prunus blossom, with a narrow double-ridge around the rim exterior, on a low foot shaped as five cusped lobes enclosing a small central five-petalled floral motif, the interior with a spur rising in the centre, a small loop handle in the form of a dragon’s head emerging from a trefoil panel in low relief

This would all seem to suggest that the decorative vocabulary was certainly in place in Persia by the end of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century and that, therefore, the cup may possibly predate the Timurid period.


Timurid Painting: Traveler and the Dervish. c. 1486
Timurid Painting: Traveler and the Dervish. c. 1486
“The Traveler and the Dervish” possibly by Hajji Muhammad, Herat 1486.
This piece is from a manuscript of the Golestan of Sa’di produced at the court of Soltan Hosayn Mirza Bayqara who was the ruler of Astrabad and Herat. It is probable that the tribes we know as Turkmen were vassal to Soltan Hosayn Mirza Bayqara. We can be relatively certain that at least the Yomut and the Gocklin were and since Soltan Hosayn Mirza Bayqara was more powerful than the Khan of Khiva it is likely that he was lord over all the Turkmen for at least part of his reign.
close up Timurid Painting: Traveler and the Dervish. c. 1486
Timurid Painting: Traveler and the Dervish. c. 1486 close up