Afghan Baluch Saddlebags Oriental Rug Afghanistan

Oriental Rug Review Antiques and Tribal Rugs is pleased to offer a set of Afghan Baluch saddlebags, khordjin, Taimani, Western Afghanistan, c. 1950s, 1'5"x3'2", for a horse or donkey.

About the weaver. We know that she was a woman for it was they who did the weaving in Baluch society. The Taimani inhabit an area to the east of Herat in Ghor Province. They are a sub-tribe in a four sub-tribe alliance known as the Chahar Aimaq Confederation. Chahar Aimaq is Turkic/Mongol for "four tribes", which are the Hazara, Firozkhoi, Jamshidi and Taimani. These are semi-nomadic groups, spending winters in towns and summers in tents at summer pasturage.

On the bagfaces' beautiful blue fields are flowering plants with six petaled blossoms. On the red grounded main border are dragon repeats.

On this piece the dragon repeat have become quite stylized. For a more explicit dragon repeat follow this link to an image of a border on a 19th c. Persian Hamadan. In Central Asia the dragon is regarded as a benevolent entity. There are no "St. George and the Dragon" good triumphs over evil legends in the region such as is the case in Western and Eastern European and Balkan cultures. Indeed, in Afghanistan's myths and legends it is often the dragon that saves the village. Where were the dragons when the Afghan people needed them these past two decades?

A word on the construction of Turkoman saddlebags: These bags are woven as one piece, with the warps continuous from the top of the first bag to its bottom then through the backs of both bags and on to the bottom of the second bag and terminating at the top of the second bag.

From 1981 through 1995 the seller published an Oriental Rug Journal, Oriental Rug Review, first as a black and white newsprint tabloid (1981-1987) and then as a color magazine (1987-1995). We have a large selection of back issues of the color magazine available. Follow the link below to our ORR back issue offer in our eBay store.

Follow this link to our eBay store offer of ORR back issues.

Buyers contacting us by e-mail, please include your full mailing address so that we can calculate shipping charges. Also, please reference the auction number and your eBay user name. This package will weigh 7 lbs. A word about shipping charges: we use the postal rate calculator at www.usps.com. We enter our ZIP code (03256), the buyer's ZIP code and the weight of the mailing package. We take the figure the calculator gives us and add the appropriate insurance charge. You can do it too! Just follow the link above. We will consolidate multiple wins for economical shipping.

Buyer pays shipping & insurance. Ron O'Callaghan, Oriental Rug Review, 74 Sinclair Hill Road, New Hampton, NH, U.S.A. 03256, (603) 744-9191.