Antique Armenian Mafrash Panel

Origin: Tavush Province, Noyemberyan area, Armenia. Comparable examples can be seen published in Robert Nooter's Flat Woven Rugs and Textiles from the Caucasus. Read more about mafrash bags below.

Design: A very detailed long side panel of a mafrash bag. The piece covered with variations of dragons and serpents, as symbols of protection and fertility. There are also small quincunx symbols scattered on the outer borders, which can be interpreted in many ways including as a fertility symbol, as a symbol of cosmic order and balance, or the five wounds of Christ.

Colors: All natural plant dyes. Shades of blue from Indigo (indigofera tinctoria, also known as true indigo.) Shades of red and orange from madder root (rubia tinctorum, or dyer’s madder). Yellow has several possible sources including pomegranate rind, onion skins, vine leaves, and weld (reseda luteola). Greens from overdying blue and yellow. Browns from walnut husk and maybe dark wool. White from cotton.

Foundation: Wool warp and wool wefts with a fine soumak technique.

Size: 17 inches by 43 inches.

Condition: Good condition, a fragment of one long side of a mafrash bag. Ends secured.

Includes wall hanger.

Mafrashes by Vahram Tatikyan - excerpt from Robert Nooter's book.

The woven rectangular containers known as mafrashes in the Caucasus, translated as "bedding bags" in Armenia, have a special place in the art of Caucasian weaving. One of their functions was to serve as containers for bedding when families moved from one location to another. They also served as ojitnots (from the word ojit, meaning "dowry") to hold the things that were assembled before marriage. Parents would use the mafrashes to put the things that were necessary for their daughters to live in a new house. This included woven objects such as clothing, sheets, dresses, stockings and saddlebags, as well as jewelery and household objects.

The number of mafrashes given to daughters (one, two or even more) was a measure of wealth in the Armenian household. When taken to her new home, they were like a special visiting card to the new surrounding, and accompanied the girl throughout her life. Therefore the mafrashes were woven tightly and with great care, and were richly ornamented, in order to bring pride to the house and the family.

As the mafrashes were symbols of ethnic identity and family origins, they did not undergo the changing stylistic innovations typical of the rugs and carpets, but were used to keep alive the ancient designs and symbols through the centuries. The designs used on mafrashes were never random or arbitrary, but constituted stable, exact replicas of older designs. They were based on the protective signs and symbols expressing ancient beliefs and relationships between man and nature.

Though woven in different places with different designs, their style was a varied expression of the same idea. The principal design element consisted of three horizontal stripes; the central stripe, which is the widest, derives from the symbol that is typical of a certain family or ethnic group. It is usually a complex design formed by the fusion of a stylized animal, bird, floral pattern or geometrical motif that expresses the idea of fertility, which is the most important concept for the preservation of the family.

Traditionally the narrow bands symbolized the four life-giving elements- water, fire, earth and air. These elements are illustrated in the design of the mafrash in order to secure the favor of the natural forces for the benefit of the owner. Mafrashes have retained the style and symbols of the archaic rugs. These designs, originally constituting totems, preserved the traditions of the family by demonstrating the perpetuity of the race from one generation to the next. In spite of the great importance experts paid to the mafrashes, certain stereotypes have prevented the thorough clarification of their significance. Generally they were attributed only to nomadic tribes and their lifestyle. The fact that mafrashes were used for the nomads' frequent movements led observers to conclude that they were woven and used only by nomads. This ignored the following: (i) Frequent movements were typical not only of nomadic tribes, but also of the settled Armenians, as Armenians engaged not only in agriculture, but in cattle breeding as well. This necessitated moving the cattle from winter to summer pastures just as the nomadic tribes did. (ii) In Central Asia, the homeland of many nomadic Turkish speaking tribes, mafrashes were almost never woven. (iii) After the inclusion of the Caucasus into the Russian Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the conflicts between the newly arrived nomadic peoples and the settled population were replaced by their peaceful co-existence. The mountainous pastures were used jointly by the nomadic tribes from the steppes and the cattle-raising settled population, and in the course of time the nomads wove mafrashes, kilims and other things, living side by side with the Armenians in the summer pastures. (iv) The nomadic tribes transmitted local designs over a rather large geographical area. Thus, the study of mafrashes woven by the settled population is very important because of the original attributes that they have retained, thereby providing information about the origin and the movements of the nomadic tribes.

In eastern Armenia, mafrashes were mostly woven in Zangadzor, Karabagh, Lori, in mountainous Armenian settlements southeast of Ganja, in Ararat valley, around the mountain Aragats, and around Lake Sevan. Their origins can be identified by their designs, colors, the quality of the yarns, and the special ornamentation typical of each area.

Some mafrashes have been woven in the same slit tapestry weave as kilims, but many use the sumakh technique. Also, the zili and verneh techniques were sometimes used, as well as a technique called "shulal", wherein the surface of the fabric was decorated only with geometrical designs, which gives the impression of an engraving, resembling the art of the cross-stones in old Armenian churches.