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Four People Seated on a Carpet, in Front of a Backdrop of Textiles

1905
This photograph, taken in a yurt located near the Murgab Oasis in the region of Bayramaly (present-day Turkmenistan), shows a family of the Teke ethnic group. Seated in the center is the young married son of the family. The woman on the far right is presumably his mother, while his young wife is seated to the left. All of them are dressed in colorful festive attire. The wife wears profuse costume ornaments that indicate social status. In the background are richly patterned woven carpets. (The center of the front carpet is overexposed by light.) Although nomadic in origin, part of the Teke adopted a settled existence and served as cavalry in the Russian armed forces. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire. Prokudin-Gorskii was particularly interested in recently acquired territories of the Russian Empire such as Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), which he visited on a number of occasions, including two trips in 1911. Turkestan appealed to him for its examples of traditional culture.

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6348.jpg
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acku Afghanistan
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TURKMENISTAN
1905<br /> This photograph, taken in a yurt located near the Murgab Oasis in the region of Bayramaly (present-day Turkmenistan), shows a family of the Teke ethnic group. Seated in the center is the young married son of the family. The woman on the far right is presumably his mother, while his young wife is seated to the left. All of them are dressed in colorful festive attire. The wife wears profuse costume ornaments that indicate social status. In the background are richly patterned woven carpets. (The center of the front carpet is overexposed by light.) Although nomadic in origin, part of the Teke adopted a settled existence and served as cavalry in the Russian armed forces. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire. Prokudin-Gorskii was particularly interested in recently acquired territories of the Russian Empire such as Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), which he visited on a number of occasions, including two trips in 1911. Turkestan appealed to him for its examples of traditional culture.