| These
rugs fit into my Persian Rugs the O'Connell
Guides section and are grouped with rugs woven by
people who speak Afshar rather than the weavers
of a particular area. Who then are the
Afshar? Today many Afshar do not think of
themselves as Afshar nor would they identify
themselves as such. So how can we attribute rugs
to a nearly forgotten tribe. As usual I suggest
that political groupings have little relevance to
weaving but language is very meaningful. Weavers
who speak Afshari as their "Milk
Language" are Afshari no matter how they
describe themselves at any point in time. The
Afshar are one of the great weaving tribes of
Persia. Originally one of the Ohguz Turkmen
Confederation the moved to Persia and Turkey at a
early date.
Afshar is a dialect of Southern Azeri. It is a
Turkic language and represents the early history
and the tribal nature of the people we know as
Afshar. At this point in time with muddled or
non-existent tribal structures it is helpful to
use a linguistic basis to make attributions. The
Afshari were a major Turkic confederation from
the days of at least the Timurid dynasty to the
Khajar dynasty. They are found in Kerman,
Khorasan Turkey and Northwest Persia (East and
West Azerbaijan) They weave attractive small
format Persian tribal rugs. Afshar weavers also
produce the finest grade of Bijars.
|
