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REVIVING TRADITION: OIRAT SILVER CRAFTSMANSHIP IN BAYANGOL


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Authors

Bulag, Uradyn E. 
Fuerwa, Dorjraa 

Abstract

This video features an Oirat silver craftsman in Khoshut County, Bayangol. Tsedenbal, born into a Khoshut family in Bayangol, has been working on silver crafting for many years and recently improved his skills in Inner Mongolia. According to Tsedenbal, although the Oirats have a long tradition of silver and iron crafts, including marvellous works from the Torghut, Jungar, and Khoshut khanate eras, the silver tradition has almost disappeared among Oirats in Xinjiang in recent years. Consequently, Oirats in Xinjiang have depended on silver artefacts from other ethnicities, such as Uyghurs, or objects from Inner Mongolia, with fewer people focusing on the heritage of craftsmen within the Oirat community. In response to this decline, Tsedenbal opened the first Oirat silver craftsman shop in Khoshut County, attracting many Oirats with his handmade silver objects. In his artefacts, Tsedenbal traces the historical tradition of Oirat aesthetics while also infusing broader Mongolian cultural elements he learned during his apprenticeship in Inner Mongolia.

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Keywords

Silver Craftmanship, Khoshut, Bayangol, Oirat, Material Cultural Heritage

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Publisher

Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge

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Sponsorship
Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.