ethnographic arts- Anahita Gallery

Anahita Gallery, Inc.
Fine art, photography & textiles from Central Asia.

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9th C ethnographic art, artifacts & books

The 19th century saw a major revival of fine metalworking, jewelry making, and the textile arts in the Central Asian kingdoms of Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand. The massive emigration from these regions into Afghanistan after the Bolshevik Revolution also brought many of these precious objects of Central Asian art to Afghanistan. Qajar work from Iran was collected by wealthy Afghans – who coveted Chinese and European knick-knacks and porcelain as well. This page features both highly sophisticated urban arts and rare examples of ethnographic material, including an important silver libation cup from Nuristan, several early wooden hooks in form of mountain goat-heads, and a Kafiristan knife. The images below include many favorite Central Asian luxury articles such as elaborate Turkoman horse harness with silver decoration. This was also the period in which Central Asian arts first began to be seriously studied by the outside world, as Russia began to colonize Central Asia in the 1860s. We are offering a complete copy of one of the most extraordinary folios of the period, N. Simakoff’s Iskusstvo srednei azii / L’Art de L’Asie Centrale (in Russian and French), St. Petersburg, 1882, a dozen pages of which are shown on the site.

click on an image to view an enlargement

ETH_0023 Nuristan1 Harp $750
ETH_0001 Antique Central Asian 19th Century Bokharan ewer, brass 6 x 14 in. $650	ETH_0002 Antique Central Asian 19th Century Central Asian ewer, brass, dated 1224 (Islamic date} 9.5 x 15 in $650
ETH_0003 Antique Central Asian 19th Century Central Asian ewer, brass, dated 1224 (Islamic date}	ETH_0004 Antique Central Asian early 20th C. wooden box with decorative tin cladding 9 x 7 x 4 in. $125
ETH_0005 Antique Central Asian early 20th C. wooden box with decorative tin cladding	ETH_0006 Antique India 19th Century Copper pot, India, some damage to one side of lip 12" x 14 in $900
ETH_0009 Antique India 19th Century Copper box, probably Kashmiri 2.75 x 9 in $500	ETH_0010 Antique India 19th Century Copper box, probably Kashmiri
ETH_0011 Antique Central Asian late 19th/early 20th c. Turkman harness, silver, carnelian, iron $275	ETH_0017 Antique Central Asian about 40 year old Turkman naswar (chewing tobacco) gourd 1.75 x 4.25 in $30
ETH_0019 Antique Kafiristan late 19th-20th Century Kafiirstan wall hook, wood. 3.75 x 20.5 $350	ETH_0020 Antique Chinese Late 19th/early 20th C. Laquer on leather hat box 11 x 13 in. $325
ETH_0021 Antique Chinese Late 19th/early 20th C. Laquer on leather hat box $2200	ETH_0022 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian. Done for early exposition of Central Asian arts in 1882 by Simakoff, an important Central Asian researcher. Pages measure 16.75 x 22.5 inches. There is some foxing on the borders and a stain on the lower right of all the plates. The images themselves are clean without any stain or foxing. The damage only effects the borders. The last plate, #50 (shown) is tattered and torn or the edges-again, not into the image. A rare and important early document on Central Asian art.
ETH_0023 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0024 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.
ETH_0025 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0026 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.
ETH_0027 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0028 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.
ETH_0029 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0030 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.
ETH_0031 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0032 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.
ETH_0033 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.	ETH_0034 Book 1883 Album of 50 large plates of Central Asian textiles, jewelry, architecture, wall paintings, etc. Brief text in French and Russian.