An extraordinary event - the presentation of a collection of 80 items of Turkmen jewelry, donated by Switzerland citizen Natalie Markaryan-Fard - took place at the State Museum of the State Cultural Center. Museum visitors, among whom there are many venerable and novice jewelers, looked with great interest at rarities that traveled around the world for many years before returning to their homeland.
The collection includes all types of women's jewelry. Among the head ornaments, manlaylyk, egme, yashmakudzhi, gupba attracted attention with their beauty. Next to them were exhibited mowing decorations - sachlyk, asyk, tenechir, akdyrma. A special place at the exhibition was occupied by chest jewelry items: beeches, heikel, acharbag, dagdan. There was also a place in the exposition for children's decorations, such as byazbent, dogachir, okyay, as well as horse equipment - gozlyuk, whips with decorative pommel and in the form of a horse's head.
Natalie Markarian-Fard was born in Tehran (Iran) in 1933 to an Armenian father and a Russian mother, who emigrated to Iran during the Russian Revolution of 1917. All the family's property, with the exception of a collection of Russian enamel boxes, was lost. Thanks to the beauty of the preserved objects, Natalie developed a passion for works of art from childhood. Later, her father became a businessman, and financial stability allowed Natalie and her younger brother to become interested in collecting.
In 1967, at an art bazaar in Tehran, Natalie purchased a small silver plaque, skillfully decorated with gilded ornaments with red carnelian inlays. She was captivated by the beauty of this item. As a result of the research, it turned out that this item was part of a leather amulet bag (Turkmen. Heikel) worn by Turkmen women. This acquisition excited Natalie so much that she switched to collecting exclusively Turkmen jewelry. Local art dealers in Tehran began to actively look for quality items for her.
Natalie moved to Germany in 1970, where she continued to build her collection with the help of German dealers who specialized in Oriental art. By the end of the 1980s, Natalie Markaryan-Fard managed to collect the second largest collection of Turkmen jewelry in the world.
The last wish of the collector is to return the pieces of jewelry to their country of origin. In her address to the Minister of Culture of Turkmenistan, she writes: “... I managed to collect a significant collection, part of which I would like to donate to one of the museums of Turkmenistan. I would be glad to make a small contribution to the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Turkmen people.” In February 2022, Natalie Markaryan-Fard passed away, but her noble will was fulfilled. Today, the entire collection is in the fund of the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan.
The collection includes items from the Yemud zargers of the Balkan velayat, which are characterized by a silver surface, decorated with stamped gold plates and inlays made of turquoise, carnelian and colored glass. The products of the Teke masters of Ahal and Mary are distinguished by strict conciseness, the surface of which is decorated with a large amount of carnelian, engraving and gilding.
The contribution of Natalie Markaryan-Fard significantly enriched the museum's collection with highly artistic items and unique rarities. These undeniably include a silver whorl decorated with gold plates, a musical instrument harp (Turkm. gopuz), a double-sided comb, as well as a silver sheath for two knives.
The collection will be on display at the museum for a month, i.е. until August 25 this year.
