Qaraqalpaq Esikqas

Contents

A typical Qaraqalpaq esikqas sits above the door of a simple yurt at Sarı Altın in 2007.
A pair of decorative ishki janbaw are suspended from either side. The yurt has a structural ishki beldew
waist belt but no aq basqur. A qızıl qur links the shan'araq to the lattice walls.

Almost two thirds of esikqas are woven in the twelve horns or on eki mu'yiz pattern, pictured above. A handful of other designs were also woven but are much less common.

Today it is extremely rare to find a esikqas decorating the interior of a Qaraqalpaq summer yurt. The esikqas plays no structural role in the architecture of the yurt and most seem to have been sold off over the past 20 years for much needed cash.

The interior of the yurt of a wealthy ex-Communist in Xalqabad. Despite his wealth the owner
did not have a traditional esikqas to decorate the door.

Today most yurts lack any internal door decoration. A few use some other decorative item, such as a rectangle of appliqué or even a qarshın. In the example shown above the owner has used a modern rug celebrating the 100th anniversary of To'rtku'l. There is no ishki janbaw. A modern sırtqı janbaw-like tent band has been incorrectly placed below the modern rug instead.

In the past much confusion has arisen among carpet scholars concerning the difference between Qaraqalpaq qarshıns and esikqas and published examples have been frequently mislabelled. For example the late George O'Bannon did not have the confidence to correctly label a Qaraqalpaq qarshın, mistakenly described by the Decorative Arts Museum in Tashkent as a esikqas, even though he recognized that it lacked the on eki mu'yiz motifs found on other esikqas and was decorated with the qarshın motif instead – see his published translation of Moskova's "Carpets of the Peoples of Central Asia", Figure 43.

Terminology

A typical Qaraqalpaq esikqas with the on eki mu'yiz pattern.
Richardson Collection, early 20th century.

To the Western eye the role of the esikqas appears to have been entirely decorative but to Qaraqalpaqs it may also have played a spiritually protective role, defending the occupants of the yurt from the harmful forces of the external world. Ram's and goat horns have long been assumed to have amuletic powers and even today some Qaraqalpaqs mount a pair of ram's horns above the entrance to their homes, while farmers place rams heads on poles next to their fields to protect their crops.

A ram's skull provides amuletic protection to a house in a suburb of No'kis.

The esikqas is located inside the yurt, oriented horizontally in alignment with the aq basqur and sitting above the qızıl basqur, the lower edge of which is located just above the door lintel or man'laysha. Just like the aq basqur and the qızıl basqur, the esikqas sits behind the wooden uwıqs and in front of the aldıng'ı u'zik, the front felt covering of the roof. The aq basqur is woven so that its decorative panels stretch around the yurt from the line above the tulg'a or upright door jamb on one side of the door, to the line above the tulg'a on the other side of the door. As such it decorates the complete inner circumference of the yurt, apart from the space above the door where its ends are tied. Without the esikqas one would simply see the untidy mess of knotted aq basqur ends criss-crossing above the door. The aq basqur is the most important decorative item within the yurt and the esikqas not only conceals its loose ends but maintains the continuation of the decorative theme across the top of the door.

Note that the qızıl basqur is tied in a completely different way. If the to'r of the yurt is positioned at noon and the entrance at 6 o'clock, the qızıl basqur is normally wound so that its ends overlap neatly at around 2 o'clock. This means that it decorates the space directly above the yurt door below the esikqas and the highly visible area facing the door normally decorated with the crossed qızıl qurs.

The esikqas is further highlighted by the addition of decorative ishki or inner janbaw on each side, which draw the eye towards the esikqas turning it into a central point of focus directly opposite the place of honour or to'r. The ishki janbaw are a narrower version of the outer or sırtqı janbaw that are suspended outside the yurt on either side of the door entrance. They are woven on white cotton warps using a white cotton weft and are decorated with a woollen symmetrically knotted pile in what is called "combination technique", just like the aq basqur, with only part of the cotton ground being covered by the decorative pile. Just like its wider outside neighbour, the lower edge of the ishki janbaw is decorated with a fringe of small red and dark brown tassels. One end of each janbaw is sewn to the lateral sides of the esikqas, while the other is tied to a lower section of the uwıqs on either side or to the keregebas. As such they form a decorative garland on each side of the door.

Drawing of the arrangement of the esikqas and ishki janbaw from Zhdanko, 1954.

As can be seen from Zhanko's drawing, the top of the man'laysha in a Qaraqalpaq yurt is usually about the same height as the kerege, or just a little bit taller. Consequently the uwıqs that go above the door are either the same length as all the others or just a little bit shorter. Therefore the qızıl basqur is positioned at the bottom of the uwıqs and just above the door.

Note that the vertical qızıl qur bands suspended from the shan'araq are not always present. However in some yurts four lengths of qur, either qızıl qur and/or so-called Turkmen nag'ıs qur, are looped around the edge of the shan'araq and are suspended with their ends tied to the kerege walls, thus providing the yurt with enhanced stability. In such a situation one of the four qurs is draped on either side of the esikqas creating an additional element of decoration around the door.

Occasionally long red and black tassels are sewn along the bottom of the esikqas, so that they hang down over the upper part of the door entrance.

Dr Elena Tsareva holds up a fine on eki mu'yiz patterned esikqas with long tassels
in the fund of the Russian Ethnography Museum, Saint Petersburg. Inventory number 8762-22811.

In rare cases an esikqas is found with a lower decorative fringe similar to that found on kergi storage bags.

A wonderful shaxmax-patterned esikqas with a lower decorative fringe and tassels.
From the State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, inventory number 4886.

Jon Thompson found it very hard to accept that esikqas were placed behind the uwıqs or even that they were actually called "esik kas" [sic] in the first place, getting himself in an awful muddle as a result. His analysis was not helped by the fact that he was not using a esikqas as a reference point, but rather another small weaving (roughly half of the width of a traditional esikqas) decorated with three on eki mu'yiz motifs. In the 1920s and 1930s this motif was adopted for use in small, irregularly sized rectangular all-pile weavings and even in large rugs and carpets, none of which were ever traditional Qaraqalpaq items. The way in which these smaller weavings were used is unknown – they may have been purely decorative.

The small Qaraqalpaq all-pile carpet exhibited in the Hajji Baba exhibition "Timbuktu to Tibet".
The colour palette suggests that it was possibly made in the late 1920s or 1930s.

Thompson suggested that the function of the esikqas as a decoration above the yurt door was a secondary one that had been adopted "after the effective death of Qaraqalpaq nomadic culture". Incorrectly interpreting the meaning of qas he went on to propose that its original purpose was related to the threshold ("esik") and curvature ("kas"), concluding that the small rectangular rug may have been the face of a cushion that was used to decorate the front of the bedding stack, or hung as a hat rack above the yurt door.

We are not helped by the complete absence of detailed historical information describing all aspects of the the interiors of Qaraqalpaq yurts in or before the 19th century. Although Baron Aleksandr Kaulbars left us a comprehensive description of Qaraqalpaq life in 1873 he did not describe the interior of the yurt in complete detail and made no reference to anything resembling a esikqas. Most of our current information comes from Soviet ethnographers who began to study Qaraqalpaq material culture from 1926 onwards. Part of their approach was to interview elderly Qaraqalpaqs, recording their memories of what things were like in the last quarter of the 19th century and in some cases even earlier. There was universal agreement from these sources that the esikqas was always placed behind the uwıqs above the door.

Thus Anna Morozova stated her own findings, gathered from the 1920s onwards, in a concise passage in her 1954 thesis:

"A small 'esik kas' rug is fastened horizontally above the door".

"Above the doors inside the yurt, between the 'uyks' [uwıqs] of the ceiling and the felt, is placed the rug 'esik-kas' (Plate 38), the pattern of which is regularly uniform, apart from insignificant variations in the border, for all localities and tribes of Karakalpaks in the regions of interest to us. To the ends of the esik-kas are fastened two 'ishki zhambau' – of smaller sizes than the external zhambau, but also decorated with a fringe with tassels."

"The second type of Karakalpak piled carpet - 'esik-kas' - is almost the same size as the karshin. Its purpose - is to decorate the entrance of the yurt inside; the esik-kas is passed between the poles of the yurt dome and its felt casing, directly above the doors. On the lateral sides to it, as was indicated above, are sewn the white decorative strips, ishki zhambau,with a relief pattern and a fringe. (Figure 4). The design of the esik-kas has less variants than the design of the karshin. The most widespread and generally used design is shown in Table IV, 4. It consists of a series of connected octagonal medallions with rhombuses inscribed inside. The field between the light yellow and ochre edging of the rhombuses and the octagons is filled with stepped and symmetrically arranged pairs of muyiz, which fill the background of the octagonal medallion and give the esik-kas its light colouring. In the centre of the inside rhombuses there is a design made from two pairs of muyizes, with rolling red horns, facing away from each other."

According to Zhdanko, the most widespread and generally used design of esikqas.
Item 4 in Table IV from B. V. Andrianov and A. S. Melkov, 1958.

In the same year of 1958 a combined group of ethnographers from the Khorezm Expedition and the Academy of Sciences working under Tatyana Zhdanko investigated the Qaraqalpaqs living along the southern shore of the Aral Sea. After visiting the Moynaq peninsula they went on to explore the five islands of Qarabaylı, Aqpetki, Taylaqjiten, Tasbesqum and Mergenataw, which were seasonally inhabited by Mu'yten Qaraqalpaqs and Qazaqs belonging to the Alim tribe. The latter two groups lived closely together and frequently intermarried. Both were still actively involved in tent band weaving and continued to use the yurt as a domestic dwelling, especially during the hot summer months.

Zhdanko noted that the Mu'yten Qaraqalpaqs, who belonged to the Qon'ırat arıs, placed a esikqas above the door on the inside of the yurt. Two tent bands, which she described as iinbau, were then attached to its lateral sides. Her iinbau [iyinbaw in Qaraqalpaq, iyin meaning shoulder] were undoubtedly a pair of ishki janbaw. By contrast she noted that the Alim Qazaqs did not use a esikqas, but as an alternative decoration stretched an iinbau horizontally above the top of the door.

The word iyin refers to the bend or shoulder in the uwıqs – the location of the esikqas. The Qaraqalpaqs sometimes use the phrase iyinbaw in place of ishki janbaw. Zhdanko noted that the "elegant" iinbau had a complex fringe and bore the names of the relatives of the tent band weaver. The Qaraqalpaqs frequently incorporated family names in their tent bands.

Another long-standing student of ethnography was Xojamet Esbergenov who had been visiting Qaraqalpaqs in the delta alongside Zhdanko since 1945 and collected yurt decorations with Igor Savitsky in 1957 to 1958, and also in 1968 to 1969. He summarized his views on the esikqas in 1980:

"Since a separate carpet decoration (esikqas) is placed above the door, the decoration of the aq basqur is arranged so that the first and last elements of the belt are in line with the struts of the door – the tulg'a."

"This complex decoration [the aq basqur] is extended above the entrance inside the yurt. It consists of three parts. In the middle - the rectangular rug esikqas - across the width of the door, and sewn to the lateral sides of the rug two narrow symmetrical runners, decorated with napped ornament on the white warp. The lower edge of the ishki janbaw is decorated with small tassels or a long fringe. The esikqas carpet above the door overlaps the clearance between the ends of the aqbasqur, as a result of which the aqbasqur ornamental belt achieves its logical completion. Artistic accent is emphasized even though the aqbasqur is viewed behind the uyıqs, and the ornament of the ishki janbaw is completely 'read', since it is superimposed from within above the kerege."

"Patterned janbaw extend along the sides of the door; at the ends they have long laces with tassels, with the aid of which they are attached to the heads of the kerege of the yurt. The general name of this rug with wings - ishki janbaw. The name of the rug esikqas literally indicates the 'brow of the door'."

"The qızıl basqur is placed at the level at which the face side of the shoulders of the uyıqs bend towards the inside of the yurt, fastening the bottom of the arcs and the upper edge of the lattice. Above it on the ceiling of the yurt is placed the aq basqur with its face side inward, thus strengthening the cupola of the yurt."

"These carpet objects (i.e. the qızıl basqur and the aq basqur) are stretched along the bottom of the cupola from right to left so that their knots are hidden. This is achieved by means of the special carpet article – the esikqas (brow of the door) - which is fastened above the door of the yurt so that any person who has entered the yurt gains the impression that they are in the centre of the universe. This impression appears not only from the fact that the main fastening of the aq basqur and qızıl basqur is not evident (it is hidden by the esikqas), but from the fact that, in the determined order, they are richly ornamented by the images of flora and fauna, the planets in space and other natural phenomena."

Melkov's 1928-29 painting of a esikqas, which he labelled as a qarshın.
Courtesy of the Regional Studies Museum, No'kis, inventory number 2059/26.

Fortunately a selection of some of the paintings executed by Boris Vasilyevich Andrianov for Melkov at that time are reproduced in Zhdanko's 1952 and 1958 articles.

Plate 38 from Zhdanko, 1952, painted by Boris Andrianov.
Items 1,2,3, and 4 are labelled as qarshıns, while 5 is described as an esikqas.

Plate 38 (1952) shows five small Qaraqalpaq weavings, out of which the one esikqas (the second weaving from the top) is labelled as a qarshın, while the bottom tikesh nag'ıs qarshın is labelled an esikqas. Zhdanko referred to the same or a similar esikqas from Kegeyli region in her 1958 article, which she described as a taraq (comb) pattern rather than tikesh (bread stamp). She noted that the design was identical to that on a kergi storage bag sketched by Melkov in the same location.

Table IV from Andrianov and Melkov, 1958.
Items 1, 2, 3, and 5 are labelled as qarshıns and item 4 is labelled an esikqas.

Andrianov and Melkov's Table IV, to which Zhdanko referred, shows five more weavings, collected between 1946 and 1948, of which three are actually esikqas (items 3, 4, and 5) and two are qarshıns (items 1 and 2). The on eki mu'yiz esikqas (item 4) is correctly labelled as an esikqas, but the two rarer patterns – shaxmax and az mu'yiz (items 3 and 5) – are labelled as qarshıns. One possibility is that Melkov's team did not yet fully understand the division between the two types of weavings. The esikqas correctly labelled in Table IV (item 4) was collected from "Kyzyl-asher" State Farm in Moynaq region in 1946. It appears to be exactly the same weaving illustrated some six years earlier in Plate 38 (item 2), when it was described as a qarshın! Clearly the early ethnographers were confused about the distinction between these two carpet types.

However this cannot be the full story. One of Melkov's own photographs shows a complete qarshın bag made with an az mu'yiz esikqas. Clearly even in the late 1920s the Qaraqalpaqs themselves were occasionally confusing the roles of qarshıns and esikqas.

Melkov's qarshın with the az mu'yiz design, photographed in 1928-29.
Courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq Branch of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, No'kis.

One further high-profile example is a complete qarshın bag with an on eki mu'yiz esikqas face held in the collection of the Russian Ethnography Museum in Saint Petersburg (inventory number 5111-138, where the number 5 shows that it was acquired earlier from a museum in Moscow). It is possible that this was one of the 86 items collected by Melkov in the late 1920s that was subsequently sent to the Fund of the Moscow Museum of the Peoples of the USSR by the government of the Qaraqalpaq ASSR in 1933, presumably in recognition of its recently enhanced status and incorporation into the Russian SFSR.

A qarshın storage bag with the on eki mu'yiz design normally associated with esikqas.
Russian Ethnography Museum, Saint Petersburg, inventory number 5111-138.

A few more examples can be found among the collection of Qaraqalpaq carpet wares held by the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow. As already mentioned, this was assembled by Igor Savitsky in the Kegeyli region during 1958. It contains 29 items that Savitsky listed as qarshıns, two of which are strictly esikqas (1612 and 4313), and 14 items listed as esikqas, two of which are qarshıns (4284 and 4312), and one of which is a few lengths of tent band sewn onto the sides of an external shiy o'n'ir door decoration to create a small rug or pallas (4289). Of the three az mu'yiz esikqas in the collection, two are labelled correctly but one is listed as a qarshın.

Do these examples show that clearly defined Qaraqalpaq prescriptions related to the specific roles of cultural artefacts were already beginning to break down under the influence of the Soviets in the late 1920s? Or was such a crossover of roles more long-standing, possibly reflecting an earlier time when esikqas patterns more commonly occurred on qarshın bag faces?

The weavings collected and photographed by Melkov in 1928-29 were probably made in the late 19th or early 20th century, and show that the crossover in roles must have been a long-standing feature of the traditional material culture of the Qaraqalpaqs of the Aral delta. Furthermore when a reversal in roles is noted it is generally the case that esikqas are used or labelled as qarshıns – the use of qarshıns as esikqas is far less common. We must also remember that Communism was slow to reach Qaraqalpaqstan. It only became an Autonomous Oblast of Kazakhstan in 1925, where it was effectively ignored until Moscow demanded its transfer to the Russian Federation in 1930.

The most likely explanation is that the esikqas originally evolved from a qarshın bag face. The on eki mu'yiz pattern, probably associated with the Qon'ırat arıs, became the most popular esikqas, while the more geometric and Turkmen-inspired az mu'yiz, shaxmax, and qıyıq na'gis patterns, possibly initially associated with the On To'rt Urıw, became speciality esikqas. As the fashion for esikqas took hold, these four patterns became increasingly rare as decorations for bag faces. However a minority of Qaraqalpaqs preferred to carry on making the old styles of qarshıns, giving rise to the exceptions that we see today.

Other Turkic Yurt Door Decorations

Uzbek eshik asma with fringe of net and tassels, dated 1930.
Samarkand State Museum of the History of Culture and Art of the Uzbek People.

This suggests such weavings were common among the Uzbeks of the Surkhandarya region. The design is very similar to that found on Uzbek napramach and Kyrgyz chavadan bag faces and has some parallels with the on eki mu'yiz esikqas, with a row of large and small hooked concentric diamond motifs.

There is a different type of Uzbek door decoration which is П-shaped like a lambrequin – one example from the Russian Ethnography Museum dated 1870-1900 is illustrated by Elena Tsareva – inventory number 36-26 shown in plate 122, 114cm by 87cm. It has also been published by Emelyanenko.

Uzbek lambrequin-like yurt door decoration composed of knotted pile strips.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, inventory number 36-26, assigned to the late 19th century.

It is not clear whether similar weavings were ever used by the Uzbeks living in the Khorezm oasis and the Aral Delta. The Uzbeks settled into permanent dwellings long before the Qaraqalpaqs and the Turkmen, so the opportunity to conduct field studies of their yurts has been limited. In 1826 G. Gelmersen observed that only the Qongrat Uzbeks living in the Aral delta still maintained their traditional nomadic lifestyle. The Uzbeks of the southern regions of the Khivan Khanate had already settled in houses and only used their yurts in the summer time. By 1873, according to G. I. Danilevskiy, very few of the Uzbeks living in the Aral Delta still conducted a nomadic existence. Baron Kaulbars found that the Aral Uzbeks, who prior to 1873 had lived in felt kibitkas within their fenced gardens, had now constructed durable mud dwellings alongside them.

Even so by the late 1940s most of the Aral Uzbeks living in the Qon'ırat region of the Aral Delta still kept a yurt in the yard close to their dwelling. These people were studied in 1946 by the ethnographer Klavdiya Zadykhina, who had studied the Qazaqs before the war and had been briefly assigned to the Khorezm Expedition. Her findings were published in 1952. The Aral Uzbek yurts were of mainly traditional Uzbek design although Qaraqalpaq yurts were also frequently encountered. Sadly Zadykhina failed to describe the interior decoration of these yurts, simply noting that the Uzbeks did not make their own felts or tent bands but purchased them from either the Qaraqalpaqs or the Turkmen, and more rarely from the Qazaqs. A photograph of an Aral Uzbek yurt close to Qon'ırat taken in the 1940s appears indistinguishable from a Qaraqalpaq yurt, with its crossed aq qurs and decorative sırtqı janbaw. This suggests that if the Aral Uzbeks ever did use a yurt door decoration it was likely to have been a Qaraqalpaq esikqas.

Both the Qazaqs and the Kyrgyz decorated their yurts with wide and elaborately decorated tent bands located behind the uwıqs. The Qazaqs used an aq basqur which was very similar to the Qaraqalpaq aq basqur, while the south-western Kyrgyz and the Kyrgyz of the Pamirs use a fully knotted pile tegerich. Yet neither group appears to have adopted a matching internal upper door decoration analogous to the esikqas. There is no mention of such a decoration in Mukanov's monograph on the Qazaq yurt or in Antipina's writings on Kyrgyz weavings and yurt decorations. Antipina does mention that the south-western Kyrgyz and the Pamiri Kyrgyz had an all-pile eshik tysh, but this was a rug-sized cover protecting and decorating the outer side of the yurt door. Emelyanenko briefly refers to Qazaq valance or lambrequin-like door surrounds in the collection of the Russian Ethnography Museum, which are apparently similar to the Uzbek example mentioned above. There have been isolated references to some Qazaqs using a door decoration known as a zhapkysh, while the only indication that the occasional Kyrgyz may have decorated the interior space above their yurt doors is a chavadan with tassels identified by Ludmilla Beresneva, which she thought might have been used in the same manner as a Qaraqalpaq esikqas:

Kyrgyz chavadan, first half of the 20th century.
State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, inventory number 8291, 86 by 45cm.

However given the chavadan's narrow width and the fact that the weaver decorated the bag with a Turkmen pattern one wonders whether it was actually intended to be used as a storage bag.

We have already seen that the Qazaqs living in close proximity to the Qaraqalpaqs on the southern islands of the Aral Sea used a complex woven iinbau with a fringe to decorate the space above the yurt door. According to Shalekenov, the yurts of the other Qazaqs living in the lower Amu Darya were in general decorated differently from yurts of the Qaraqalpaqs. However the Qazaqs recognized Qaraqalpaq women for their superior skills and the diversity of their decorations. Over time Qazaq women began to adopt many of these items and weave them themselves.

"Some Qazaqs purchased ... carpet articles such as aq basqurs, esikqas etc. on the market. Qazaq yurts were frequently decorated with these items."

Tekke gapylyk decorated with the ovodan meander.
Wiedersperg Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Franscisco, inventory number 1997.142.18., 90 by 117cm.

They were П-shaped and were between 104 and 120cm wide and, excluding tassels, 74 to 94cm high. They had fairly broad horizontal and vertical side sections and had either plain horizontal or triangular pointed ends. Some gapylyk, such as those woven by the Salor, had a triangular festoon on the lower side of the cross strip. Woven with a richly decorated knotted pile, the lower edges were frequently decorated with long multi-coloured fringes that were susceptible to wear and sometimes had to be replaced. The most common design incorporates the ovodan meander motif, symbolizing growth and fertility and perhaps, according to some, the infinite cycle of life itself. Gapylyks were made by the Tekke, Saryk, Salor, and Ersari, as well as by the Chodur and northern Yomut living close to the Khorezm oasis. According to Siawosch Azadi gapylyks were particularly widespread among the Ersari.

Tekke khalyk, first half of the 19th century.
The Rickmer's Collection, Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inventory number IB 2752, 71 by 52cm.

There is a similar but smaller version of the Turkmen gapylyk, the function of which is not entirely clear. Valentina Moshkova referred to it as a khalyk, supposedly meaning "little rug". Most known examples are Tekke in origin and predate the mid-19th century, although a few are Ersari. They are generally between 63 and 78cm wide and 43 to 55cm high excluding tassels, have pointed triangular ends, a triangular festoon or pendant hanging below the horizontal cross strip, and long dense fringes. Some have long cords attached to the two top corners. Both Pinner and Emelyanenko noted that they may have been used as a decoration for the front of the bride's camel in the wedding caravan and/or as a curtain over the front of her litter. Emelyanenko even claims that on arrival at the groom's yurt or house, the khalyk was placed over the top of the gapylyk with its underside facing outwards so that passers-by could judge the quality of the bride's weaving!

Soviet scholars mysteriously refer to such weavings as dezlik or dizlyk, a term that is also used to describe small pentagonal camel knee decorations (dyz being Turkmen for knee). Elena Tsareva claims that in addition to being used as a collar for the leading camel of a wedding caravan they were also hung above the yurt door. Whether they were ever used as yurt door decorations is of course impossible to know in the absence of historical observations. However their width suggests they are too narrow to have been used for this purpose.

The Structure of the Qaraqalpaq Esikqas

• Minor variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas 4273 was woven in 1907 and acquired from the weaver, while main variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas 4278 was also acquired from the weaver who was aged 70 in 1958, suggesting it was made in the early 1900s.
• An az mu'yiz esikqas 4313 described as a qarshın was woven by Danish Nazambetova from the Taraqlı tribe just before or just after 1900. A fragment of a similar esikqas, numbered 1614, was woven Zaliha Qozumbetova 60 years prior to 1957.
• A shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas 4282, described as geometric and composed of diamonds and squares with diagonal colouring, was woven by Ka'riyma Saylaxanova around 1900 to 1903.
• Finally a qıyıq nag'ıs esikqas 4283 was woven by Ayımxan Kuyukova from the Ton'moyın clan in 1907.

Approximate distribution of esikqas patterns.

• on eki mu'yiz nag'ıs or twelve horns pattern 61%

• az mu'yiz nag'ıs or small horns pattern 17%

• shaxmax nag'ıs or chequered pattern 15%

• qıyıq nag'ıs or diagonal or sloping pattern 7%

Two of these pattern types contain both major and minor variants. The main on eki mu'yiz pattern has two minor variants and the main shaxmax pattern has one. Therefore there are seven patterns overall.

The On Eki Mu'yiz Esikqas

An on eki mu'yiz esikqas from the Richardson Collection. Probably early 20th century.

The on eki mu'yiz esikqas occurs in two different forms, depending on which motif occurs in the centre of the twelve-horned rhomb:

• in the main variant there are a pair of curled horns with a small diamond at the centre, while
• in the minor variant there is a diamond-shaped array and no horns.

Main Variant

Detail of an on eki mu'yiz esikqas from the Richardson Collection. Possibly late 19th century.

The on eki mu'yiz motifs are always directly adjacent, only separated from each along their central axis by another small red diamond and at the top and bottom by a pair of larger opposing triangles, one inverted directly above the other. These are normally red and each contains a single pair of qos mu'yiz horns, coloured brown, and yet one further small diamond. All of the above motifs (on eki mu'yiz, jup mu'yiz, qos mu'yiz, and the triangle in which the latter sits) are outlined in a contrasting colour, often blue but sometimes also white, red, or a combination of these colours.

However there is an alternative main variant on eki mu'yiz design in which the red and white colours are reversed, although the brown stays the same. Consequently the diamond with its twelve horns is red and the jup mu'yiz at its centre are white, as are the pairs of separating triangles. Only a minority of main variant patterns occur in this form (just over 5%).

Alternative coloured variant of the main on eki mu'yiz esikqas design.
From the Richardson Collection.

Interestingly neither form contains any element of the diagonal colouring that is found in the majority of qarshıns and the other three main types of esikqas.

However, as always, individual examples frequently contain elements that break the rules. Thus a weaver may have knotted all of her jup mu'yiz motifs in red wool apart from one that she has knotted in cream.

Breaking the rules - detail of a main variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky. Inventory number 5839.

The number of repetitive on eki mu'yiz motifs included in a esikqas generally varies from five to eight, the most frequently occurring number being six. Most vary from five to seven, only two examples of eight having been identified so far. There is one example in the Savitsky Museum with just four motifs, but this is clearly a very non-traditional and late example (probably late 1930s) containing an unusually large amount of yellow wool.

A short and excessively wide esikqas with just four on eki mu'yiz motifs. Note the synthetic red dye run.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky. Inventory number not recorded.

Another small example, referred to above, with only three motifs has been published by Thompson. Neither of these latter two examples can be said to represent the traditional on eki mu'yiz esikqas.

In one third of our sample the on eki mu'yiz esikqas contains a partial motif, indicating that the weaver had not pre-planned her work and simply stopped at the point where she felt her rug was wide enough for its purpose. The partial motif can be just one quarter, one half, or three quarters of the full motif and in all cases is accompanied by either five or six complete motifs.

On eki mu'yiz esikqas usually have narrow end borders, often just a band of barber's pole colouring, and single side borders. In half of all cases the side border decoration is a repetitive row of pairs of horns, usually referred to as qos mu'yiz. In another quarter of cases it is a repetitive row of the geometric piskekshe, named after the crossed-shape beater that fits inside a butter churn or piskek. For the final quarter, side border designs vary enormously from the very simple to the complex.

Almost all on eki mu'yiz esikqas have completely red or salmon pink selvedge cords. Out of the few exceptions, most have red combined with small amounts of grey, blue, beige, or brown.

Minor Variant

The minor variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas with the stepped diamond centre.
Image courtesy of the Savitsky Museum. Inventory number 3969.

This stepped diamond motif is similar to the at ayıl nag'ıs motif used on horse's bellybands, but is referred to as tekshe nag'ıs or steps pattern by Aygu'l Pirnazarova, the Curator of Costume and Jewellery at the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky. The same term is used by Ag'ınbay Allamuratov to describe an identical stepped diamond embroidery motif.

Minor variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas with stepped diamond centre and double side borders.
Image courtesy of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow. Inventory number 4273.

One feature of the tekshe nag'ıs on eki mu'yiz pattern is that the colouring differs from that of the most common form of the main variant on eki mu'yiz pattern. It is similar to that of the reversed colour form with red coloured twelve-horned diamonds sitting on a brown background, separated by white triangles containing brown qarsı mu'yiz motifs. The tekshe nag'ıs usually has a brown outermost stepped diamond, a red inner stepped diamond, and a smaller brown and red or cream and red innermost stepped diamond. However there are exceptions.

A different version of a minor variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas from the Richardson Collection.
The outer stepped diamond is red and the inner stepped diamond is red and white.

Side borders again tend to be either repetitive rows of qos mu'yiz or piskekshe motif. Some examples, such as those illustrated above, were woven with two different side borders.

Weavers find it hard to knot motifs with curved features and it is tempting to assume that this is a later variant of the traditional on eki mu'yiz pattern, developed as a short cut. There are certainly some synthetically dyed examples that appear to be more recent, possibly dating from the late 1920s or the 1930s. At the same time the appearance of other examples suggests that they could date from the turn of the century or earlier. If this pattern did emerge as a simplified version of the main variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas then it must have been during the 19th century.

However our one final very rare version of the on eki mu'yiz pattern might suggest that the tekshe nag'ıs on eki mu'yiz esikqas has more ancient origins.

Rare Variant

Detail of the rare variant on eki mu'yiz esikqas from the Savitsky Museum, inventory number 4828.

The main field contains a horizontal row of seven indigo blue diamonds with an outer border of small red and white crosses, creating a finely stepped outer diamond. Within each diamond is a lighter blue on eki mu'yiz motif, while in the triangular spaces between each diamond are a pair of opposing horns. Interestingly there are double side borders of barber's pole and piskeshe.

This esikqas appears to be of 19th century origin and one wonders whether it might have provided some of the inspiration for the minor variant on eki mu'yiz pattern, the diamonds migrating from the outside to the inside of the on eki mu'yiz motif?

The On Eki Mu'yiz Motif

"whose pattern is regularly uniform, apart from insignificant variations in the border, for all localities and tribes of Karakalpaks in the regions of interest to us."

A panel from a Qaraqalpaq aq basqur decorated with on eki mu'yiz motifs.
From the Richardson Collection. Note the similar layout to the on eki mu'yiz esikqas.

The on eki mu'yiz pattern occurs frequently on aq basqurs and even smaller tent bands, one unique example being on an old and narrow iyin baw displayed in the Savitsky Museum, dyed with indigo and madder. It also occasionally crops up as a motif in both cross-stitch and chain-stitch embroidery, for example on the faces of both aq and qızıl kiymesheks.

However the on eki mu'yiz pattern found on esikqas is quite different to that found on basqurs. It contains less diagonal elements and the horizontal and vertical outlines of the twelve-horn design are defined by straight rows of knots aligned along a limited number of specific warps and wefts. In other words it is easier to weave.

We must remember that, unlike for the nomadic Turkmen, all-pile carpet weaving was a relatively minor craft for Qaraqalpaq women compared to the production of tent bands and other yurt decorations. The main reason for this could be that the cattle-breeding Qaraqalpaqs did not traditionally raise sheep in any significant numbers. Sheep are upland creatures which do not thrive in marshy environments. Although some Qaraqalpaqs did raise some sheep (as evidenced by Kaulbars in 1873), these were bred for consumption and not for their wool. Even today the quality of Qaraqalpaq sheep pelts remains extremely poor and the wool is unsuitable for weaving. Consequently the Qaraqalpaqs had to source good quality sheep's wool from the neighbouring Qazaqs or Turkmen. Not surprisingly their knotted pile carpetwares were therefore much simpler in structure and design. One wonders if the particular form of the on eki mu'yiz esikqas pattern was developed by Qaraqalpaq weavers so that they could make the most of their limited carpet knotting skills.

As we show below, an almost identical on eki mu'yiz pattern appears on some Qazaq woollen patterned jez shiy screens where again it is far easier to produce a pattern delineated by horizontal and vertical lines.

There also happens to be a second Qaraqalpaq twelve-horned motif found on a fairly rare qarshın bag face where it is displayed within an octagon. It has similarities to both the kaikalak and the Memling gul and has been cumbersomely described as "the kaikalak variant of the Memling gul". We have classified it as the "Octagonal C" pattern. Interestingly this design is also outlined by horizontal and vertical straight lines.

The Qaraqalpaq on eki mu'yiz esikqas pattern is quite distinct and unmistakeable – it cannot be confused with any other Central Asian or Middle Eastern pattern. As we have seen in the section on dating, the pattern has remained almost constant since the 1870s, suggesting it must go back at least to the early 19th century. Perhaps its real origin is much earlier.

As Beresneva pointed out in 1994, many other forms of the twelve-horned motif occur throughout Central Asia, not just on carpets but also in embroidery and wood carving. Indeed they can be found further afield in Afghanistan, Persia, the Caucasus, and Anatolia. It seems unlikely that these and other associated horn-like motifs appeared independently among the various neighbouring Turkic tribes and suggests that they have a common origin dating back to the time of the early nomadic Turks if not earlier.

Before examining the spread of this motif we should note that it occurs in two basic forms, one with twelve diagonally oriented horns sprouting from a diamond, the other with twelve rectangular-shaped horns emanating from a stepped diamond. The latter is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Memling gul after the 15th century German-born painter Hans Memling who included Oriental carpets containing similarly shaped 8-horned motifs in some of his paintings, such as the "Virgin and Child" altarpiece painted for Sir John Donne in 1475 and the following still-life dated to the mid-1480s:

Still-life painted by Hans Memling, about 1490.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid.

This link is another indication of the antiquity of these horned motifs, confirming their presence in 15th century Europe.

Multiple-horned diamonds occur frequently in Qazaq small carpets, storage bags, donkey saddle bags, and shiy screens, the number of horns ranging widely from 8 to 40 or more. Some shiy screen and door patterns are remarkably similar to the Qaraqalpaq on eki mu'yiz design.

Decorated shiy door screen, known as a shum su, from Qizil Orda, western Kazakhstan.
Decorated with 8- and 16-horned on eki mu'yiz-like motifs. From Mukanov, 1981.

Shiy door screen from a Qaraqalpaq yurt in Moynaq with an on eki mu'yiz pattern.

The Kyrgyz make even more extensive use of the multiple-horned diamond, the twelve-horned version of which they refer to as the kochkorok or kaikalak pattern.

Examples of Kyrgyz horned diamond motifs.
Figure 4.24 from Akmoldoeva and Sommer, 2002.

In her 1968 review of Kyrgyz knotted pile carpets Antipina provides two references to the possible meaning of kaikalak, one suggesting that its meaning is "arched its back" and the other claiming that the kaikalak pattern is similar to the Central Asian pattern khaikel, meaning idol, image, or amulet. The Qaraqalpaq ha'ykel is a large silver chest decoration worn by a married woman, which is also considered to have protective amuletic powers.

Kaikalak motifs occur extensively on the knotted pile weavings of the southern Kyrgyz of the Ferghana region, appearing on small bashtyk bags, larger chavadan bag faces, and decorative tegerich tent bands. Most are depicted in the form of a diamond but a few appear as more rectangular Memling-like motifs. It also occasionally appears on Kyrgyz shiy reed screens although here the 8-horned version is much more popular.

We should also note that the Uzbeks used similar kaikalak and kuchkorak motifs on napramach storage bags as well as on long-piled julkhir rugs.

The frequent use of repetitive rows of three or four kaikalak motifs on the faces of Kyrgyz chavadan and Uzbek napramach storage bags underlines the likelihood that the Qaraqalpaq on eki mu'yiz esikqas is derived from a qarshın-like bag.

A Kyrgyz chavadan from the Karasu district of Osh region with three kaikalak motifs.
From the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, inventory number 8209, dated to the 1920s or 1930s.

Complex variations of the twelve-horned motif are found among some but not all of the Turkmen tribes, including those who lived close to the Aral region in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Multiple hooked diamonds or dyrnak (claw) guls play an important part in Yomut carpet design. Twelve-horned versions occur in the form of the angular sekiz kelle (mysteriously named eight heads) gul on their storage bags and as sekiz gochak (literally eight horns) on the large carpets. It seems that the Turkmen are not fussy about the exact number of horns that appear on their segiz kelle motifs, which may be why they are also frequently referred to as Memling guls.

Both the Chodur and the Igdir used similar eight- and twelve-horned motifs in their chuval bag faces, which they named kirk shokh or kirk buinez (literally forty horns). Some are Memling-like while others resemble a horned or hooked diamond. The Tekke too have their own versions of the dyrnak, sekiz kelle, and sekiz gochak guls all of which tend to be used as secondary motifs in large floor carpets.

The Az Mu'yiz Esikqas

Three az mu'yiz esikqas displayed in the old Savitsky Museum in 1999.

The three rows are separated by narrow horizontal bands usually decorated with a barber's pole design and in other cases with simple piskekshe, saw tooth, or railway line designs or sometimes with just a solid line. Side borders can be single or double and tend to be also geometric with rows of T-shapes, diamonds, squares, chevrons, or the interlinked џ-shaped tuning-fork motif similar to the Turkmen soldat (soldier) border pattern also referred to as ok gozi (small arrow).

There appear to be two colour forms for this esikqas. The most common form is brown, white, and either red or pink.

Brown, white, and red az mu'yiz esikqas.
From the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis.

The rarer form is a most unusual combination of brown, pistachio green, and pink.

The rarer brown, pistachio green, and pink az mu'yiz esikqas.
From the Richardson Collection. Acquired with ishki janbaw attached.

The pistachio colour must have come from a local natural dye because it was frequently used in other Qaraqalpaq yurt decorations. Interestingly Zhdanko described her early impression of the exterior decoration of the Qaraqalpaq yurt in her 1952 article as being of a predominantly pinkish brown nuance with the addition of pistachio green and golden yellow tones.

In regard to terminology we are unaware of any traditional Qaraqalpaq name for this esikqas pattern and have mutually agreed to use the term az mu'yiz (small horns) in our numerous discussions with Aygu'l Pirnazarova, the Curator of Costume and Jewellery at the Savitsky Museum.

Brown, white, and red az mu'yiz esikqas.
From the Russian Ethnography Museum, Saint Petersburg, inventory number 7128-53.

The pattern appears to be similar to certain border designs used by Turkmen weavers and is very close to a pattern found on strips of Uzbek alacha, which are sewn together side to side to make flat-woven alacha carpets and decorative yurt wall hangings, sometimes called pallas, a another term of Uzbek origin. Moshkova illustrated it as one of the unnamed patterns found in Uzbek flat-woven rugs woven using the gajari warp substitution technique (her Plate VII), and as kuchkorak kashta for rugs woven in the besh kashta technique, literally five or five-fold embroidery, a discontinuous supplementary weft brocading technique where the warps are twined around thicker weft threads thus creating the impression of embroidery (her Plate IX).

The kuchkorak kashta pattern (literally "strong patchwork embroidery pattern") from Moshkova's Plate IX.
In this version the horns face outwards instead of inwards.

The Qaraqalpaqs made very similar flat-woven carpets, which they call alasha, incorporating very similar motifs. Having only inspected about half a dozen Qaraqalpaq alasha carpets ourselves we have not so far identified this specific pattern but see no reason why it should not have been within the Qaraqalpaq repertoire. There is a somewhat similar Qaraqalpaq motif in which two pairs of angular horns project from opposite sides of a small square-shaped diamond. This is called bawırsaq mu'yiz, named after the small triangular pastry served at weddings and other celebrations.

While on the subject of motifs, the diamond with four spots that occurs in this pattern is called wolf's eyes or in Qaraqalpaq bo'ri ko'z.

We have already mentioned that the provenance of the Moscow collection of esikqas shows that this pattern was certainly being woven at the turn of the 19th century and probably during the 19th century on the basis that one further example, inventory number 1624, is most likely even older.

An az mu'yiz esikqas from the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow.
Inventory number 1624, claimed to be 19th century.

Certainly Melkov encountered the same pattern in 1929 but in the form of a complete qarshın bag.

Melkov's qarshın with the az mu'yiz design, photographed in 1928-29.
Courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq Branch of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, No'kis.

A later example painted by Andrianov in the Kegeyli region in 1947 was also described as a qarshın.

B. V. Andrianov and A. S. Melkov described this esikqas as a qarshın.
From Baxıtlı kolxoz, Kegeyli region, 1947. Reproduced from Works of the Khorezm Expedition, Volume 3.

We have already shown that Andrianov may have been confused about the distinction between qarshıns and esikqas. However there can be no confusion about Melkov's photograph. It is clear that in the early 20th century some Qaraqalpaq weavers used the az mu'yiz design on a small number of qarshın bag faces.

The Shaxmax Esikqas

Main Variant

A naturally dyed shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas with stepped diamond side borders and wide end borders.
Inventory number 4314, mounted on black velvet. Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis.

A long shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas with narrow borders, inventory number 5071.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis.

The colour palette of these esikqas is normally brown or black and red and white, in many cases along with beige or cream and/or grey, light blue, or dark blue. Blue seems to be missing in all the later examples. In a minority of examples the quadrants of the innermost rectangles contain small contrasting dots. In one old example the triangular corners of the outermost rectangles contain small contrasting coloured triangles.

Again there is no known Qaraqalpaq name for this pattern and we use the descriptive term shaxmax, meaning chequered. In Qaraqalpaq shaxmat means chess and shaxmatlap mean in chessboard order or with staggered rows as in a chessboard arrangement. The term shatırash, which is used by Qaraqalpaqs to describe finely chequered bo'z, actually means crossed and is therefore not such an appropriate description.

Two examples from the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow show that this pattern was being woven at the beginning of the 20th century:

Two shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas from Kegeyli region, inventory numbers 4282 and 1615.
The first woven around 1900 to 1903 and the second attributed to the early 20th century.
From the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow.

However an example in the David and Sue Richardson Collection is much older, possibly made in the first half of the 19th century. It is interesting that this early example was woven in the north-western part of the Aral delta.

An old shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas from the former village of Aq Darya in Moynaq region.
From the Richardson Collection. Probably first half of the 19th century.

Another example was painted by the Khorezm Expedition in 1947. Andrianov and Melkov describe this as the ornament of a qarshın rug woven in the raised pile technique.

Painting of a section of a shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas by Andrianov, described as a qarshın.
From "Chapaeva" kolxoz, Kegeyli region, 1947. Illustrated in Works of the Khorezm Expedition, Volume 3.

It is not clear whether the weaving was from an actual qarshın or was mistakenly described as such. We have so far never encountered a qarshın bag decorated with this pattern in our researches.

Once again the rows of this pattern are very similar to the border designs found on certain Turkmen Chodor rugs and bag faces.

Chodur weaving from the Charles Grant Ellis Collection, said to be an early 19th century bridal camel trapping.
From Mackie and Thompson, 1980.

Chodur torba from the Turkmenistan National Carpet Museum, assigned to the late 19th century.
From O'Bannon's translation of Moshkova, 1996.

Girl, possibly Qaraqalpaq, sitting on a knotted pile rug with a shaxmax border design.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis. Late 1920s or 1930s.

The influence of the Chodor can be gauged from the following painting of a Qaraqalpaq kergi storage bag, painted by a member of Melkov's expedition in 1928-29.

Painting of a Qaraqalpaq kergi, which appears to be a direct copy of a Chodor bag face
with four ortmen gul medallions. Image courtesy of the Regional Studies Museum, No'kis.

During the 19th century the Chodur were located along the western edges of the Aral Delta in the vicinity of the Quwanısh jarma, which flowed north from Xojeli to Qon'ırat. According to Moshkova they were more likely than the other Turkmen groups to engage in mixed marriages with the other surrounding non-Turkmen tribes. Although Moshkova only mentions the Qazaqs, it is likely that they also intermixed with the Qaraqalpaqs who Butakov noticed were more prosperous than the Qazaqs in this region during the 1850s.

Minor Variant

The gridless shaxmax nag'ıs esikqas, inventory number 4606.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis.

As such it appears as a diagonal lattice of diamonds, with the diagonal colouring limited to the whole diamonds rather than to any component parts. The pattern has narrow railway line end borders, no side borders, and red side finishes.

The Qıyıq Na'gıs Esikqas

An old qıyıq nag'ıs esikqas, inventory number 3783, probably made in the early 1880s.
It was woven by a woman from the Teristamg'alı clan (Qon'ırat arıs), who was born in 1864 and died in 1927.
Image courtesy of the Qaraqalpaq State Museum of Art named after Savitsky, No'kis.

A qıyıq nag'ıs esikqas from Kegeyli region with one missing side border.
Woven by Ayımxan Kuyukova from the Ton'moyın clan (On To'rt Urıw arıs) in 1907.
Image courtesy of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow. Inventory number 4283.

The qıyık nag'ıs design consists of three or four parallel rows of angular geometric motifs. Each row consists of pairs of angular Y-shaped figures, one inverted alongside the other, positioned between X-shaped figures somewhat similar in shape to the turquoise glazed tile inserts used on Khorezmian (and Bukharan) mosques and minarets during the time of the Golden Horde. Each row is sandwiched in between two narrower rows of barber's pole, small diamonds or џ-shaped tuning fork motif analogous to the Turkmen soldat motif. This central field is then surrounded by an outer border of qos mu'yiz, piskekshe, or small diamonds.

A qıyıq nag'ıs esikqas from the Richardson Collection.

A qıyıq nag'ıs esikqas with four rows of motifs.
Image courtesy of the Regional Studies Museum, No'kis. Inventory number 1926.

One special feature of this pattern is that it contains a significant amount of both dark and light indigo blue.

The qıyıq nag'ıs pattern only seems to occur on esikqas. To date we have never found this pattern associated with a qarshın.

The main pattern element is found nowhere else in Qaraqalpaq weaving and is very similar to a border pattern found in both Uzbek and Turkmen rugs and carpets. One such pattern named ashik is found in the rugs of the Turkmen Yomut and Saryk:

The ashik border pattern, Saryk above, Yomut below.
Extracted from Moshkova, 1970, Plates XLI and LXIV.

There is a similar pattern called darak used by the Ersari:

Ersari main carpet with the darak border pattern.

The implication is that this Qaraqalpaq pattern too was inspired by contact with the neighbouring Yomut Turkmen.

Combination Technique Esikqas

Pallas woven by Zabag'ul Esemenova from the Aralbay tribe and acquired by Savitsky
in Kegeyli region in 1958. From the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow. Inventory number 4289.

The somewhat similar Moscow item 4289 is described as a carpet made from three strips of qızıl qur and an esikqas. It is actually a small pallas carpet made from strips woven in so-called combination technique. They are neither qızıl qurs nor an esikqas. The widest component is one half of a pair of shiy on'ir, the decoration used externally on either side of the outer yurt door. The original purpose of the three narrower strips is a mystery. They are not aq qurs, nor are they part of the band that runs around the lower edge of the roofing felts, since neither of these external weavings was ever decorated in combination technique.

Conclusions

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