Traditional crafts

Long before Genghis Khan’s conquers the Mongols knew how to process leather and felt and make different things from them. They were also familiar with blacksmithing and jewelry and were skillful in wood processing. Apart from home crafts which nomadic families occupied themselves with in their free time, there were also craftsmen who performed the orders of the nobility, the army and the church. Between the end of the 17th and the end of the 19th centuries, during the role of the Manchurian dynasty, Mongolian crafts feel into decay, and in the period of autonomy (1911 – 1921) they revived.

Among the developed kinds of folk art are metal, leather, felt, wool and other materials’ processing, wood painting and wood, ivory and stone carving. In the course of many centuries folk craftsmen have refined their feeling of the material and techniques of its treatment. Secrets of the skill were passed from father to son, and as a result an original national style was developed.

With the transition to the settled way of life and other changes a lot of objects fell into disuse and became obsolete: quivers for arrows and bow cases, decorations for women’s “winged” hair style and ancient head dresses. But there is still need for saddles and stirrups, for national clothes and jewelry for smoking pipes and tobacco pouches. Folk craftsmen still make objects of folk art which find their market.

Rite vessel.  Mongolia. Mongols. Late 19th cent.		"Horse" chess piece.  Mongolia. Mongols. Late 19th cent.		Leather boots.  Mongolia. Mongols. 1930s.
Wating for shopper. Mongolia. The Mongols. Ulan Bator Saifieva A., 2006.		Ritual vessel. Trans-Baikal. The Buryats. 19th century.		Censer. Mongolia. The Mongols. 19th century.
A monument to Zanabazar (1635-1723), a prominent sculptor, done according to traditional Buddhist canons. Mongolia. Ulan Bator. Rykin P., 2005.		Wooden decoratiions are common in Mongolian temples. Mongolia. The Mongols. Ivanov D., 2006.