JBOC Attribution: Oriental Rugs > Turkmen Rugs > Tekke Rugs & Carpets
The James C. Allen Mid 17th century Tekke Chuval The Tekke people descend from one of the 23 Oghuz Turkmen Tribes. By 1200 AD they had settled as agriculturists in the Syr Darya region. They were then uprooted in the Mongol Invasions and moved west towards the Caspian Sea. By the 16th century the Tekke moved into the Akhal region along the Kopetdag Mountains and then gradually pushed the Salor from the Murgap River basin. They stayed there until defeated by the Russians. The Tekke ceased to function as a cohesive tribal confederation after the battle and massacre of the Tekke by the Russians January 12, 1881. While they ceased to exist as a tribal unit they are still identifiable as an ethno-linguistic group since they share a common dialect called Tekke or Chagatai. "In the early sixteenth century, the Turkmen "were concentrated in four main regions: along the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea, on the Mangyshlak Peninsula (on the northeastern Caspian coast), around the Balkan Mountains, and along the Uzboy River running across north-central Turkmenistan". Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996 "Many scholars regard the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries as the period of the reformulation of the Turkmen into the tribal groups that exist today. " Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996 "Beginning in the sixteenth century and continuing into the nineteenth century, large tribal conglomerates and individual groups migrated east and southeast." Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996 "Historical sources indicate the existence of a large tribal union often referred to as the Salor confederation in the Mangyshlak Peninsula and areas around the Balkan Mountains. The Salor were one of the few original Oghuz tribes to survive to modern times. In the late seventeenth century, the union dissolved and the three senior tribes moved eastward and later southward." Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996 (16th century) "The Yomud split into eastern and western groups, while the Tekke moved into the Akhal region along the Kopetdag Mountains and gradually into the Murgap River basin. The Salor tribes migrated into the region near the Amu Darya delta in the oasis of Khorazm south of the Aral Sea, the middle course of the Amu Darya southeast of the Aral Sea, the Akhal oasis north of present-day Ashgabad and areas along the Kopetdag bordering Iran, and the Murgap River in present-day southeast Turkmenistan." Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996
A Tekke Torba formerly in the Thompson collection and now I believe it is in the Bloom collection The Merv Tekke had settled in the Tejend swamps until the drought of 1831-1834. They moved from Sarahks to as far south as Seistan until abut 1855. Pankratov, Turkmen Tribes The Tejend Swamps are North by North west of Sarahks. The swamps are the area where the Tejend river disappears into the sands of the Karakum desert. The Merv Tekke or any tribe needs water and until the drought they could survive in the desert. Once they ran out of water they moved up river and pushed the Salor and Saryk from Sarahks. "Beginning in the sixteenth century, most of the Turkmen tribes were divided among two Uzbek principalities: the Khanate (or emirate) of Khiva (centered along the lower Amu Darya in Khorazm) and the Khanate of Bukhoro (Bukhara)." Library of Congress: Turkmenistan Formation of the Turkmen Nation March 1996 The Tekke defeated the Khan of Khiva at Sarahks in 1855. This allowed the Tekke to occupy the Sarrahks region. It also set off 12 years of Turkmen rebellion against the Khiva Khanate. Khanate of Khiva 1511-1920 Late 1873 "Short of money for the return to Tashkent, Kaufman ordered the other Turkmen tribes in Khivan territory to pay their shares of the fine, some 301,000 rubles. Becoming somewhat more reasonable, he allowed them to pay half the sum in camels and the other half in either coin or gold or silver jewelry and other objects. They were given from July 21 to August 2 to pay. The punishment of the Yomuds had its desired effect on the other Turcomen bands. At the deadline, some 92,000 rubles had been collected, and as there was evidence of intent to pay, Kaufman allowed an indefinite extension to the payment deadline. To insure full payment, he took 26 hostages from among the families of Turcomen notables." Hinson, The Fall of Khiva. Gen. Michael Skobelev, commander of Krasnovodsk fort transported 11,000 Russian troops to Goktepe on their newly built railway. Goktepe fell to the Russians in 1881. Gen. Michael Skobelev allowed his men to execute 8,000 men women children and even babies. They used bayonets on the babies. Ogata Resource Treasure-trove The circumcision of a young Tekkè boy is a major event in the life of the Turkmen. "Wealthy Turkman families usually hold a party which includes horseracing and wrestling to celebrate this event." TURKMENS OF IRAN
Profile of a NomadIn this portrait, Prokudin-Gorksii captures the traditional dress, jewelry, and hairstyle of an Uzbek woman standing on a richly decorated carpet at the entrance to a yurt, a portable tent used for housing by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. After conquering Turkestan in the mid 1800s, the Russian government exerted strong pressure on the nomadic peoples to adopt a sedentary lifestyle and settle permanently in villages, towns, and cities. Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. JBOC Note: The girl and the yurt look Uzbek. That leads to the question of where did she get the Tekke carpet. Unless the carpet is Uzbek as well.
Akhal versus Merv Tekkes"The Akhal preserved more of the traditional characteristics of ancient carpet weaving, while the Merv Tekkes experienced a strong Salor influence and thus adopted such specific Salor features as knot depression and a great repertoire of designs." Elena Tsareva Dudin Collection - Tekkes
A Former Slave on the Tekke and the Russian Victory"we soon found ourselves in the garden of Dawlatabad, where we sat in a shady corner and conversed with an old gardener who had been for thirteen months a slave in the hands of the (Tekke) Turcomans. He had been taken prisoner by them near the Kal'at-i-Nadiri about the time that Hamze Mirza was besieging Mashhad (1848), and described very graphically his experiences in the Turcoman slave-market; how he and his companions in misfortune, stripped almost naked, were inspected and examined by intending purchasers, and finally knocked down by the broker to the highest bidder. He had finally effected his escape during a raid into Persian territory, in which he had accompanied the marauders as a guide, exactly after the manner of the immortal Haji Baba. He and the Erivani joined cordially in abusing the Turcomans, whom they described as more like wild beasts than men. "They have no sense of fear," said the latter, "and will never submit, however great may be the odds against them; even their women and children will die fighting. That was why the Russians made so merciless a massacre of them, and why, after the massacre was over, they piled up the bodies of the slain into a gigantic heap, poured petroleum over it, and set it on fire, that perhaps this horrible spectacle might terrify the survivors into submission."" A Year Amongst the Persians: Yedz pages 399 - 400 Interesting Books On Turkmen Rugs:Eiland, Murray L Jr. Oriental Rugs A New Comprehensive Guide. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1993 3rd edition.Krader, Lawrence. Peoples of Central Asia. Bloomington Indiana: Indiana University, 1966.Mackie, Louise & Dr. Jon Thompson. Turkmen. Washington DC: Textile Museum, 1980.Reuben, David M. Gols and Guls: Turkmen Carpets from the 18th and 19th Centuries. London: 1998Saunders, Peter E. Tribal Visions. Novao Ca: 1980.Tsareva, Elena. The Dudin Collection. Meredith: Oriental Rug Auction Review, Inc., 1990.
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