Central Asian Ikats in Written Islamic Sources of the 10th—12th Centuries (in the Framework of Study of Textile Collections of the MAE RAS)

Abstract

Known today under a general literary name of ikat, Western Central Asian textiles of the category represent a specific branch of the craft. One of its largest and the richest collections belongs to the MAE RAS. Traced as commodity of Moscow — Bukhara commerce since the 16th century, and a point of collecting and ethnographic and art history studies since mid‑19th century, the type still needs historical and terminological investigation. Suggested article considers three hardly explored in this direction sources. One — Central Asian ikats in written Islamic sources — is based on R. B. Serjeant work Islamic Textiles. Materials for a History up to the Mongol Conquest. According to R. B. Serjeant the earliest mentioning of Herat and Merv ‘asb “striped stuffs” corresponds to the time of ‘Abd al‑Malik (r. 65—86 / 685—705). Matching by date is the close to the Ferghana Valley ikat finding from the supposedly Soghdian Dulan archaeological site (Qinghai province, Tibet). The third, terminological issue of the article traces penetration of Persian / Tajik ikat terms into the Russian textile vocabulary: the earliest fixed case refers to 1551—1605, assuming still earlier time of adaptation of the term. No matter how few, suggested data adds important information on the history of the Western Central Asian ikat tradition.