Originally Posted by CraftsofthePast

The tripartite Turkoman Turkmen Asik in gilded silver decorated with table cut carnelians and hung on its original leather cord represents the family: father, mother and child.
This piece is known as gosa-asyk. The traditional design is an alignment of three plaques suggestive of heart shapes to Western mindsets or representing parts of female bodies in the Turkoman mindset. In the Teke tribe, from which this piece originates, most such pieces have areas that are gilded. In the tripartite gosa-asyk, between the three heart shapes, it is customary to place separators made of the same material. In the case above, the pieces actually were cut from the same plate of patterned and gilded silver. You can see how the pieces fit together by looking at the underside of the piece and noting how the patterns fit together flowing from one piece to the next.

Both the examples that I have seen of this design of the tripartite gosa-asyk hang on a heavy leather cord which shows signs of long wear, but still very pliable and sturdy.

The silver also is a plate thick enough to resist even intentional force to bend it. The plate of silver from which this Teke Turkoman family symbol is made is 2.8 mm thick.

The Turkoman that were interviewed by Dieter and Reinhold Schlechter for their book Old Silver Jewellery of the Turkoman reported that this is the Turkoman symbol for the family in their minds: Father, Mother and Child.

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