Turkoman Jewelry Symbols Include Islamic Symbols

As the Mongol conquerors assumed their kingdoms under the great Khan in Central and South Asia in the Late Middle Ages, the Moslem religion was ascendant throughout that region.  The Turkoman people added much of the Moslem spirituality to their own veneration of ancestors and their tribal geographic origins in the symbols of mountains and ancestors: the equilateral triangle mounted on a prayer cylinder with abstract ram's heads decorating the piece.

Up to at least the 1950s, the Turkoman jewelry and their fabric arts were their religious art.  Even their camels and donkeys wore the tribal symbols in silver and sometimes gilded silver jewelry and blankets. The modern-day analog would be the taxi driver who carries the medallion of the name of Allah written in beautiful Arabic calligraphy.  It is doubtful that the medallion could be read, but it is the symbol that all understand as a blessing from Allah.

Our last post was about the Asik, or sometimes written as Asyk, in tripartite form symbolizing the family  but today we can look at a single Asik (my preferred spelling, because it uses the vowel harmony that is typical for the Turkish dialect that I once spoke fairly well).   Here is a photo from a page that tells a fuller story of its symbols:

On the top two gemstones set into the silver you will see crescents and stars, the widely recognized symbol of Islam in its political and religious expression.  The carnelian in the center is an irregular cabochon form.  The gemstone does not show signs of having been replaced, so apparently the original silversmith preferred to use the matching red stone rather than a more golden carnelian that would have been smooth enough to make the intaglio of stars and crescents.  

Of course, the breathtakingly beautiful mosques of Uzbekistan speak above all of the inculturation of the Turkoman to the religion of Islam. 

For more information on Turkoman silver pieces, see my studio at Artfire. 

The URL is http://craftsofthepast.artfire.com