A Salor wedding trapping, Central Turkestan

Overall measurements: 168cm across the top, 162cm across the bottom, 61cm the left side, 59cm the right side. Colour in images appears darker and browner than in reality, it is a beautiful deep rosy red with a dark aubergine background to the borders and centres of the diamond shaped silk guls. Wool is dense lustrous and generally 2-3mm with a band of wear across each of the upper and lower borders, NB this is woven so that the step of the border is at the bottom - it has therefore been published upside-down in the printed catalogue, apologies! The crimson silk is oxidised mainly to knotheads although with some pile extant as visible in the photograph. The side edges have losses and may have been trimmed, the upper end has minor losses and the lower end has some losses and has been bound with hand stitched herringbone tape and there is old later overlocking to this lower edge beneath the tape. The drawing is beautiful and the white and blue outlining against the red ground is really well articulated, a fantastic collectors item.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Salor wedding trappings with Kejebe motifs are the subject of considerable debate with regard to their use. However it is known they played a key role in the ornamentation of the bridal camel and are renowned collectors’ items due to their rarity, beauty and the prestige attached to them. They are believed to have been made in pairs, although very few remain together. It is conceivable that they were intended as a suite, working harmoniously around the bridal ‘sedan’ or Kejebe. In this case one could imagine a pair of three gul trappings running to the left and the right of the bridal hut, one with two guls across the front and perhaps a further two gul, or maybe one gul, to the rear, however, this remains speculative. For an example of a pair of trappings see Herrmann, E., Asiatische teppich Und Textilkunst, Band 1, Germany, 1989, pp.114-115, pl. 53. These examples have many similar motifs to the present lot, including the use of the Davarza guls descending from the cloud collar motif used in Chinese porcelain, three guls in the Herrmann pair and two in the offered lot. Aside from the differing number of guls these trappings all compare in their field composition, use of main and minor guls, paired interlocked stylised flowers, silk highlights, inner banded floral border and adjoining border with repeat rhomb design. Likewise another comparable trapping can be seen in Ed. Mackie, L. and Thompson, J., Turkmen Tribal Carpets and Traditions, U.S.A, 1980, pl.14.

Trappings, of this type, are known to range from one to three main guls, examples of the latter are those cited in Herrmann, Mackie and Thompson, of the former only four are recorded. Two trappings were formerly in the collection of Jon Thompson, a three gul and a two gul with a stepped border, both were sold Sotheby’s, New York, 16 December 1993, lots 53 and 58. Further two gul trappings with similar composition can be seen in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum Number 143-1884. Also an exemplary Kejebe trapping with two Davarza guls, was formerly in the collection of Frances Fagley Coury. Praised in Schurmann, U., Central-Asian Rugs, Germany, 1969, p, 82, pl. 6, this fine example is commensurable with the present work in many respects, although evocative of designs in première partie and contrepartie, the silk in the Coury Kejebe (see illus. Fig.1) has been used to decorate the field of the Davarza guls and in the offered work to fill the central floral motif and subsidiary rosettes. The Coury example was sold Sotheby's New York, 20 January 1990, lot 106 and achieved the record price at auction for a Salor Kejebe at the time ($148,500). Notable in the present work, unlike the Coury, the silk highlights have not oxidised and are still vibrant in colour. Another trapping with very similar composition and similar 'reverse' silk highlights achieved the current world record price at auction, Rippon Boswell, Germany, December 2011, lot 150 or see Hali 'Auction Price Guide', issue 171, p. 123, May 2011. This like, the present lot, retains its vibrant pink silk highlights and reserves them for the innermost part of the Davarza gul including the floral turrets and highlights of the rosettes within the Davarza, and the twelve outer floral turrets. Also each example has a stepped border, however it would appear that the present lot has more silk within the secondary diamond guls, the Rippon Boswell example incorporating it to highlight the scrolled motif rather than the ground of the gul. The two tone of blue to the drawing of the present lot is also interesting to note.

Approximately twenty six trappings of one, two and three guls are recorded to have survived, of which twelve have two Davarza guls and are split between two different forms of border design - stepped border, such as the offered lot, and straight border. The present lot, purchased by the present owner some 25 years ago appears to be previously unrecorded. Examples of these are a work sold at Rippon Boswell, Germany, May 2012, lot 1, an assumed two gul pair at Sotheby’s, London, April 2003, Lot 55, and previously mentioned two gul trapping in the collection of the Victoria & Albert museum, the sold Coury example. See Pinner, Robert Hali 'Auction Price Guide', issue 110, p. 153, May 2000, for the twelve Salor trappings that had appeared in auction up to that date. For further examples at auction post 2000 see Hali 'Auction Price Guide', issue 171, p. 123, May 2011. 

For comprehensive discussion on Salor ethnography see Tzareva, E., Salor Carpets, Hali, vol. 6, No. 2, pp.126-135, and for illustrations the three types of trappings using Davarza guls see p.132, pls.15-17.