Ersari

<p><span>The Ersari are the largest and oldest of the pastoral nomadic tribes originally from the Oxus Valley region situated between the city of Bokhara and the northern mountains of Afghanistan, close relations of the Turkoman people from the neighbouring steppelands of Turkestan. Examples of their beautiful and superbly crafted rugs survive from the 18th Century. Having sought to preserve their tribal lifestyle from the threat of Soviet collectivism by taking refuge in the mountains of northern Afghanistan following the 1917 Revolution, they have been driven further still from their natural homelands by the past three decades of devastating warfare that have rendered Afghanistan virtually uninhabitable, forced to struggle for survival in the huge encampments that have mushroomed around the town of Peshawar, at the eastern end of the Khyber Pass. From the tragedy of the Khyber pass camps, the weavers of the Ersari have created a miracle of colour and beauty in rugs of the calibre seen in this example. Drawing on the core heritage of Central Asian decorative art, these works employ designs found in the greatest 19th Century weavings of the Caucasus, these in turn descended from the most ancient tribal art of the steppe. Here, the heraldic Akstafa composition of the east Caucasian region, with its distinctive stylised peacock motifs, is given new life in the fresh and glowing vegetable dye colours of which the Ersari have for long been the masters. This beautiful and striking Ersari rug provides a defining example of the renaissance in knotting excellence that has taken place among the displaced Ersari weavers in the Afghan war encampments of the Khyber Pass. In perfect condition.<br /></span></p>