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Purchased as a wall hanging, from Bob the Street-Corner Oriental Rug Pusher.

PhilW wrote:An Afghan Farahan?

No, I realise now that this may be more geographically complicated than I thought. You are not too far away, I think.

Glenn E. wrote:Purchased as a wall hanging, from Bob the Street-Corner Oriental Rug Pusher.

Now Glenn I believe you are not really trying with the second half of your answer. Not bought as a wall hanging.

Obviously a Kurdish table cover.

This must have been an Uzbek politeness shawl. I believe they're popular in Notting Hill today.
Cut some rug.

A flying carpet?

A hat cover from Samarkand.

djewesbury wrote:This must have been an Uzbek politeness shawl. I believe they're popular in Notting Hill today.
Cut some rug.

jdaw1 wrote:Obviously a Kurdish table cover.

Thank you for cheering me. I was quite pleased with my reference to hornet's cheese earlier, but I see that I have struck a rich vein of fantasy with this one. No.

It is oblong and does act as a rug.

A useful aid for storing women in the back of your transit van?

DRT wrote:A flying carpet?

Tediously static.

djewesbury wrote:A hat cover from Samarkand.

i actually have a hat from this area, not as a rug though.

It is a Kazakh brise-soleil.

DRT wrote:A useful aid for storing women in the back of your transit van?

Don't get dark on me Derek, no.

djewesbury wrote:It is a Kazakh brise-soleil.

A what?

LGTrotter wrote:

djewesbury wrote:It is a Kazakh brise-soleil.

A what?

Not sure. No, then.

A wig?

A whole-room fan.

djewesbury wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:

djewesbury wrote:It is a Kazakh brise-soleil.

A what?

Not sure. No, then.

Found it, no.

djewesbury wrote:A whole-room fan.

One of those ones you work with a rope on a pulley. The rope is tied to your little toe. Or your rugwallah.

I'm going to ignore these until someone comes up with something sensible.

Not doing well at the purpose so let's try the "where": Singapore?

It comes from what I think is a tribal area in the Middle East. The oblong is about three feet wide and two feet wide. There is a part of it which is missing.

A prayer mat?

Where did Nicholas Parsons go? Shouldn't he be conducting this quiz?

DRT wrote:Where did Nicholas Parsons go? Shouldn't he be conducting this quiz?

Goodnight Irene.

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:Where did Nicholas Parsons go? Shouldn't he be conducting this quiz?

Goodnight Irene.

Is my mum with you?

DRT wrote:

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:Where did Nicholas Parsons go? Shouldn't he be conducting this quiz?

Goodnight Irene.

Is my mum with you?

Night son.

A Yemeni seat cover.

(Though Mrs W. assures me that it isn’t a seat cover. She’s probably right.)

It was used as a curtain. Maybe a tent curtain? An Alawite area, of which there are several?

Is it a camel cover? Maybe to soften the trial of the posterior on long journeys.

The ‟geographically complicated” ‟tribal area” business keeps pushing me towards the Kurds (I own a small Kurdish rug or maybe Mrs W. has disliked it, I forget), but has been rejected. Is it from one of the Emirates?

Was it used as a door? Ditto with the Yemeni guess.

Was ‟tribal area” a political statement, implicitly denying the ambitions of the Palestinians? So let’s guess non-Israeli Palestine.

But what? A crib cover, or some other baby-warning apparatus?

I think it's from a part of Syria near Lebanon and it's an AK47-cosy.

Oh I know! Quick, somebody guess, Julian, Mrs W, so I can tell you all what it is.

I don't know where the rug came from or what it's original purpose was.
But I know that this rug really tied the room together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQLP1dj_t8

It is from mountain area of the Jordan and it is a middle eastern poncho!

I am still smarting slightly from the Nicholas Parsons quips, however such trials come upon one. It would seem that the guesses seem to be at the heart of the Middle East, consideration should be given to the edges. I do have one of those things that they put round doors but it is such an odd shape I am at a loss what to do with it. I suppose the obvious solution would be to put it round a door but this has only just occurred to me.

No right answers yet, I am thinking that I should accept either rather than both answers. The object is rather more prosaic than some of the more outlandish conjectures.

And they came together as one, and called out, saying, A clue, give us a clue, Lord, a clue for we who toil in darkness and give our sweat so freely to The Quiz.

Bit of a recap bit of a clue.

We are looking for an area on the edge of the Middle East where tribesmen make traditional weavings. If you were to look at the north east that would be good. The object itself is as Coleridge said on an off day about a pond; 'I measured it from side to side, tis three feet long and two feet wide'. It is a regular shape and has something missing which would make it complete. It is a thing which would be of practical value to nomads. Shall I also say that the missing part would be of the same dimensions as the part I have? Oh look I just did.

More clues available, I think that these quizzes should not go beyond one evening.

It is a two-sided thing. It covers something. It is from Iraq? It is of use to nomads.. Does it stand up and shelter something from the sun?

It's a bag. That's all; a bag, the face of a bag. Happy now?

But it was a bag which supposedly contained a what? A what which nomads would have.

LGTrotter wrote:It's a bag. That's all; a bag, the face of a bag. Happy now?

But it was a bag which supposedly contained a what? A what which nomads would have.

Easy tiger.
A gourd.

djewesbury wrote:A gourd.

I'm working with nothing here.

I nearly did a question the answer to which was 'Chelmsford'. But I decided to go the extra mile. It would serve you right if every question you ever asked from now on was answered with the single word; Chelmsford.

Is it Chelmsford?

Bloody nomads have gourds. And camels.
And tents! It's a tent cover! It is the middle eastern equivalent of the flimsy bit of nylon that you stick your tent in.
Correct?

djewesbury wrote:Bloody nomads have gourds. And camels.
And tents! It's a tent cover! It is the middle eastern equivalent of the flimsy bit of nylon that you stick your tent in.
Correct?

I do love these moments...

...it's not your turn.

Aaagghhhh!

Go on; have it. We'll just be sat here twiddling our thumbs until some less deserving glory hunter comes for your prize.

Turkoman was the tribe/place. It is a Bokhara pattern but not quite the standard one. I rather like it.

Daniel; you are our winner!

LGTrotter wrote:Go on; have it. We'll just be sat here twiddling our thumbs until some less deserving glory hunter comes for your prize.

Turkoman was the tribe/place. It is a Bokhara pattern but not quite the standard one. I rather like it.

Daniel; you are our winner!

A good question. Right now I am re-reading Frantz Fanon for a workshop on critical writing I'm running tomorrow, so I will gracefully tip my hat to all here, maybe make a few incisive and witty asides in other threads, and retire to consider a question for Wednesday.

Go in peace.

djewesbury wrote:Frantz Fanon.

Had to look him up, interesting story. I have all these port books to read though...

New quiz. One to please both of the 'two cultures' as CP Snow would have it.

What does this grid of numbers have to do with art?