NEWS
CARPET PORTRAIT OF PUSHKIN
The Museum of Folk Crafts "Dash Metjid", located on the territory of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Kunya-Urgench", is known not only in our country, but also abroad. The Museum carefully stores various artifacts that reflect the ancient life and ancient culture of the Turkmen people. Among the many exhibits, once made by the hands of folk craftsmen, a carpet with the image of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin attracted our attention with its originality. When you get acquainted with this unusual exhibit, a number of questions immediately arise: who is the author of this portrait, in connection with what it was created, how did the exhibit get to the museum and others.
The registration journal of the museum exhibits indicates that most of the artifacts collected here were donated by the residents of the Kunyaurgen etrap to the opening of the Dash Metjid Museum in 1985. In addition, the museum contains values transferred from various individuals and organizations over the years. These rarities include a carpet portrait of Pushkin, which entered the museum in 1987 from the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan.
The seemingly very impressive carpet was woven - hard to imagine! - during the war, in 1943. Its authors are Ene Khydyrova and Jeyran Akhmedova, employees of the artistic experimental workshop "Turkmen carpet". What prompted the two craftswomen to immortalize in the carpet the portrait of the author of the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin"? There was a fierce war, the population in the rear was exhausted, working for the needs of the front. Why is Pushkin, and not some hero who distinguished himself on the battlefield, woven on their carpet? Perhaps the calculation was that just the spirit of peaceful life, which is embodied in the carpet, will become an additional incentive to defeat the enemy.
At the same time, today, for sure, we can state that the portrait of Pushkin in a carpet from the Dash Metjit Museum is the first and, perhaps, the only pictorial work about the poet, made in this genre.
The length of the carpet is 1.28m, the width is 1.3m. Silk and cotton threads were used for its warp. It should be especially noted that the yarn from which the carpet is woven consisted not only of ordinary sheep wool, but also of camel wool using natural colors. At the same time, yarn dyed with natural dyes was also used in the carpet.
The portrait, which bears great resemblance to the original, which testifies to the high professionalism of carpet weavers Ene Khydyrova and Dzheyran Akhmedova, is framed by ancient carpet patterns along the edges. I would like to dwell in more detail on the patterns of this carpet. In it, with warmth to the work of A.S. Pushkin and love for the original carpet weaving, the craftswomen weaved traditional carpet patterns such as “pürdek gül”, “söýnek” and others. These ancient Turkmen carpet patterns were harmoniously combined with the portrait of the great poet.
The inventory of the technical data of this carpet indicates that they belong to the carpet weaving of the Pendi region, that is, to the Mary velayat.
Soon it will be 80 years since this portrait was woven, and about 40 years since it has been an exhibit of the Dash Metjit Museum. But alas, to date, more information about the carpet makers and any information about the author of the sketch has not been preserved.
As the head of the historical and cultural state reserve "Kunya-Urgench" Mammetnepes Batyrov noted:
- In the museum you can get acquainted with various artifacts related to the historical and cultural heritage of our people. Among them is an exclusive carpet with a portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, reflecting the eternally young creativity of the poet and the love of the Turkmen people for universal values. Therefore, we are especially proud of this priceless exhibit.