Emil KA RIMOV Ph.D. in History
Fidan ALIYEVA
GRAPHIC MATERIALS OF THE PAST CENTURIES THAT ARE PERFORMED IN A VARIETY OF GENRES (GRAPHICS, LITHOGRAPHY, PAINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHS) AND ALLOW YOU TO VISUALLY PERCEIVE INDIVIDUAL MOMENTS OF THE TRADITIONAL LIFE OF A PEOPLE ARE OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IN TERMS OF ETHNOGRAPHY.
Agreat contribution to the history of the visual ethnography of Azerbaijan was made by famous European and Russian artists who visited the region at various times. Among the works of 19th century Russian artists, paintings and sketches by G. G. Gagarin and V. V. Vereshchagin particularly stand out. But few people know that Azerbaijan was visited with creative goals by less famous artists, one of whom was Karl Beggrov.
In 1818-1821, Karl Petrovich (Carl Joachim) Beggrov (1799-1875) studied at the landscape class of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and worked in the lithographic studio of his brother I. P. Beggrov, where he acquired skills of drawing on stone. In 1818, he turned to lithography, but his watercolors also reached our time. K. P. Beggrov lithographed the album «The people who live between the Caspian and Black Seas» (S-Pb., 1822), which is a bibliographic rarity today.
In terms of Azerbaijani ethnography, six lithographed (with watercolors) color drawings made by the artist in Azerbaijan are of great value - in the Gazakh and Shamshadil distances, as well as in the Guba and Borchali regions in the early 1820s.
By the end of the 1820s, the following situation developed in Azerbaijan. In 1801, Eastern Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) became part of Russia and together with it, the Borchali and Shamshadil sultanates, which were vassals of Georgia, were incorporated into the empire.1 After that, the tsarist army conquered the Jaro-Balakan region (1803) and the city of Ganja. According to the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), Azerbaijan was divided into two parts - South Azerbaijan became part of Iran, North Azerbaijan – part of Russia. In Northern Azerbaijan, a new administrative-territorial division was established: the sultanates were called «distances» and former khanates - «provinces».
Paintings of K. Beggrov are of interest for the study of the national costume of Azerbaijanis – Gazakh and Borchali residents.
The national costume of Azerbaijanis stands out for its diversity, originality and high artistic quality and beauty. The formation of Azerbaijanis’ clothing was infl uenced by natural and geographical factors, socioeconomic conditions, as well as traditional occupations of the population and social affi liation. The nature and form of the style, color and material of the clothing were also aff ected by age and the degree of material security.
Citing Beggrov’s watercolors, we can argue that in the early 19th century, Azerbaijanis continued to maintain the best traditions of the past centuries in clothing. There was a lot in common in the clothing of Gazakh and Borchali residents, which was due to their geographical proximity and traditional occupation.
The main materials for clothing were cotton, silk and wool. The burmet - a kind of dense calico – was woven from local cotton. It was used for making lightweight dresses, as well as darai (taff eta), mov and kanauz fabrics.
For a long historical period, the tunic-shaped style remained in Azerbaijanis’ clothing. The traditional shoulder clothing of men consisted of the chukha (Circassian coat), clothing with drop sleeves or without them, and with pockets on both sides. Men’s hats made of sheepskin were common. Over underwear they wore a single-breasted arkhalig from satin or burmet with a breast cut, an arkhalig, trousers of silk, calico or cloth. Almost all the men of that time bore guns, which was due to the complex military-political situation, and bearing arms was an important element of self-defense.
Women’s clothes and jewelry are very diverse. The material for women’s clothing was silk woven with gold threads (zяrli xara), diba (brocade), kanauz and darai. The natural and geographical conditions of Azerbaijan made it possible to grow silkworms here. Silk weaving and silk painting has been developing in Azerbaijan since ancient times. Raw silk was sent to diff erent countries, as well as to Moscow and the Nizhniy Novgorod Fair. In 1822, 1.8 million poods of raw silk were sent from the city of Sheki alone to Russia. In many cities of Azerbaijan, dyeing workshops operated.
Women’s clothing was often decorated with lace. Women’s costume consisted of a tunic-shaped shirt, a dress-shirt without a seam on the shoulders cropped at the waist and with straight sleeves and cuff s. They also wore the same breast aprons and waist clothes. The arkhalig (lebade) and shoulder strap (sleeveless jacket) served as outerwear.
Among headgear, we should note the chutka (cap) – a headband (made of silk or cotton) for plaits of rectangular shape, which covered the head, tightly covering the upper part of the forehead and sinking to the back of the head. Among women’s jewelry, we should note the silsila from gold diamond-shaped plates on a chain, earrings with pendants and a ring with beads.
A careful study of Beggrov’s drawings will help to research into other aspects of the national costume of Azerbaijanis.
References
1. D. Y. Zubarev. Borchali distance / / Review of Russian possessions beyond the Caucasus, Part 2, Tbilisi, 1836.
2. D. Y. Zubarev. Gazakh distance / / Review of Russian possessions beyond the Caucasus, Part 2, Tbilisi, 1836.
3. D. Y. Zubarev. Shamshadil distance / / Review of Russian possessions beyond the Caucasus, Part 2, Tbilisi, 1836.
4. Borchali district / / Encyclopedic Dictionary. Publishers: Brockhaus and Efron, Vol. 4, 1891.
5. Yermasov’s letter to Count Guryev. 1822 / / Acts collected by the Caucasian Archaeological Commission, Vol. 4, Part I, Tbilisi, 1874.
6. Borchali district / / Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, fi rst edition, M. 1927.
7. R. S. Afandiyev. From the history of Azerbaijani costume / / Author’s abstract of the dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Arts, Leningrad, 1961.
8. R. S. Afandiyev. From the history of Azerbaijani costume / / Reports of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR, № 9, Baku, 1959.
9. ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Беггров_ Карл_Петрович
