Bands and Belts

A Shahsevan animal-pack band, collection of Fred Mushkat

Weavings of Nomads in Iran, subtitled Warp-faced Bands and Related Textiles, with copious illustrations of examples drawn from the unique collection of Fred Mushkat, follows the example of many major publications on oriental textiles by being expensive and beautifully produced. In the past, most ambitious books of this kind focused on finely-woven and sophisticated carpets and rugs; Weavings of Nomads in Iran, however, is one of a growing number that concentrates on the vernacular and tribal. Mushkat, its main author, suggests that the majority of pieces in his collection were made for personal use, and this is probably true. Although there is often little difference between pieces that were woven for the weavers and their families and those that were made specifically for sale, the distinction has some significance in the rug world. Depending on their taste or on what they wish to sell, collectors and dealers often claim that simpler or more primitive nomadic textiles were made for personal use (which may or may not mean that they are more ‘authentic’) and that finer weavings are either ‘dowry’ pieces, made as gifts, or commissioned by tribal khans. Rarely are they described as having been specifically made for the market, which is considered to diminish their significance. The designations may be accurate, but as there is little historical documentation of such textiles, these opinions are usually based on hunches and hearsay. Similarly, because the weavings are hard to date, there is a widespread tendency to over-estimate age, as older pieces are more valuable.

According to Mushkat, the woven bands that are featured in this book were among the last tribal weavings from Iran to have reached the marketplace. They began to appear and circulate in the 1970s, following the dramatic rise of interest in tribal artefacts which, perhaps coincidentally, followed the 1960s countercultural interest in nomadic life and ‘authentic’ living in general, a phenomenon that was among the early signs of the societal alienation and rootlessness that is still manifest today. There was scant regard for these weavings until then; now, somewhat ironically, they are valuable and prized, especially among affluent collectors in the West.

It is possible that only the better examples, looked after and preserved by weavers and their families, have survived, as the bands were used to attach goods and other effects to donkeys, mules and camels, and most of them would have worn out after a few years. Made on ground looms, using the most basic of textile structures, these functional items were nonetheless woven with great care and attention. Without the ceremonial or dowry status of comparable Turkoman textiles, their understated elegance far outweighed their social or economic value, and the time and skill involved in their fabrication were considerable. Unpretentious and modest, impersonal but intimate, generic but individual, the beauty of these weavings is often enhanced by traces of wear, which helps to draw attention to the context in which they were created. It is unlikely that bands of this quality will ever again be made by hand, for although weaving traditions are still alive in Iran, much of their energy and vitality has drained away.

Warp-faced weavings from Iran have some similarities to others that originate in different parts of the world. One of them is the Irish crios, a long belt that was once widely worn, especially in the West of Ireland, with home-spun tweed trousers. Because the Irish language and clothing were banned for many years by the British, they mainly survived in remote parts of the country such as the Aran Islands, where traditional dress, including the crios, endured well into the 20th century. The crios was woven without a loom, the warp threads stretched between two chairs, stools or, more traditionally, between a hand and a foot, the ends tied to a shoe; it was typically composed of six colours, often bordered with white, and the ends were braided. Irish traditional crafts have frequently been Romanticized and re-contextualised; the crios, for example, flourished briefly in the 1960s and was popular among hippies, students, and folk musicians; more recently it has been taken up for symbolic use in marriage ceremonies. It has had a presence in marketing too; as long ago as the 1950s the crios featured on a travel poster devised, oddly enough, by a Dutch designer. Traditional crafts were alive then, and some still are, but they have generally become less functional, more decorative and ‘artistic’. In recent decades, Irish culture has changed from traditional conservatism to progressive materialism, and many of the old ways of doing and making things have been abandoned. Fortunately, just before they began to disappear, most of the original Irish crafts were documented in a series of affectionate films made in the 1970s and 1980s by David Shaw-Smith and his wife, Sally, which were accompanied by a well-illustrated book that is still in print.

For further exploration:

Fred Mushkat lectures on the subject of his book: https://vimeo.com/547543303

Another Fred Mushkat talk on warp-faced textiles: https://rjohnhowe.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/fred-mushkat-on-warp-faced-textiles-of-the-nomads-of-iran/

A brief article on the ‘crios’: http://irisharchaeology.ie/2014/09/crios-cords-traditional-irish-woven-belts/

Documentary on Donegal weavers by David Shaw-Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBliGIdL_MI&list=PL7ciDDSRept-l8GZjS7WusFlZnBE0NcfM&index=12

David Shaw-Smith’s films: https://hands.ie/

Image on index page: detail of a Qashqai animal chest band, collection of Fred Mushkat

Current listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z0w7U6yw0c

Irish travel poster, 1950s