Unknown bead, cowrie & metal work item
 

I picked this up at a local flea market recently and wondered if any members have any notion as to its ethnic origin ? It is sewn on to cloth , and measures 75 x 15 cm .

Salaams thin red line... This looks like Turkomen/Afghanistan tribal wear... off the silk road. There are a number of beads namely Lapiz and others of glass...and Cowrie shell...Note the tiny little white glass beads on the ends of tassels. You can see a large pendant stitched on the cloth from a necklace (and typically a number of single pendants). The big circular disc with red glass beads is a style of huge Turkomen pendant.

The entire item is probably not old but cleverly recycles other older items onto this wall or tent decoration.

See https://www.google.com/search?q=Turk...w=1366&bih=655

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams Ibrahiim .... that is very interesting and informative , thank you so much.

I agree with the Turkoman attribution, and the suggestion that it is a "recycled" item.

The central beadwork hexagon is very reminiscent of the gul design forms that are featured on Turokoman carpets and bag faces, but I've never seen anything like it in any older piece, leading me to believe that it is of more recent construction, harking back to the traditional designs.

Link to carpet gul images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=carp...HSXIB-wQsAQIRA

Again very informative , thank you .

They make these glass bead worked items in typical Gul (flowered) patterns and use them to decorate bigger pieces or singly as teapot and cup mats placed on a bigger cloth on the ground...or just on the ground. :)

I haven't seen these in my days of searching for old rugs, but I've been out of that loop for a few decades. When did the glass beaded pieces posted above come into regular use?

Not absolutely certain but a few decades for sure... at least... I have some somewhere at home I will try to dig out... :)

Well thanks for the ID guys but this makes it not my area of interest so I am going to bung it on the swap forum ...