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Embroidered Goat's Skull (Turkmen)

Goat's skull with embroidered cotton covering, Turkmen. Goat's skull with embroidered cotton covering, Turkmen. © The Trustees of the British Museum, acc. no. 2008,6025.23.

The British Museum in London houses a goat's skull from among the Turkmen in Southwest Asia. It is covered with cotton cloth and embroidered with cotton threads. Embroidered goat's skulls seem often to occur with the Turkmen, and particularly with the Yomuts. The decoration includes black and pink floral designs, and multi-coloured plaited threads are wound around the horns. The eyes of the goat are also embroidered.

From the jaws there are woollen tassels with beads. At the back of the skull there is a piece of embroidered appliqué, apparently from another textile.

See also the TRC digital exhibition Dressing The Stans: Textiles, Dress and Jewellery from Central Asia (TRC, Leiden, 2017).

British Museum online catalogue (retrieved 4th September 2016).

WV

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 April 2018 08:55