Iran

The area around Gorgan, a small town in northern Iran not far from the Caspian Sea, is home to many Turkmen, pastoral nomads from Central Asia who raise horses on the barren steppes. Lily drew a tribal chief’s eldest wife, who was so heavily laden with ornaments that she could barely hold them up. Her tall, pointed hat of chiselled silver was encrusted with carnelian beads. ‘This chief’s wife was no longer young, but she had an interesting, distinctive face, which showed that she had been through many tribulations in the course of her life. When the portrait was complete, the chief said “two index fingers”, and then placed his own two index fingers side by side. This was the Turkmen way of saying “like two peas in a pod”!’