#khorosan

Turkmen woman during 1970s, Afghanistan.

🔵  Here’s a little BLUESDAY inspiration from our Asian art collection, currently on view in Infinite Blue.

These ornaments were not worn in the ear itself, but appended to a Tibetan woman’s headdress near the ears to frame the face. They served to demonstrate her personal wealth and social status. The most highly prized, sky-blue turquoise originated from mines near Nishapur in Khorosan, Iran, and was traded to Tibet via India; darker colored turquoise came from both Tibet and China. The color turquoise was important to Tibetans as a reference to the sky and lakes, while the mineral turquoise was thought to have powers that added to its appeal as a material for personal adornment. According to the Blue Beryl, an important Tibetan medical treatise written by Sangye Gyatso (1653–1705), turquoise had healing properties: an antidote for poison and a cure for diseases, including liver ailments

Musicans and instruments, Khorosan, Iran. Man. Vol. IX. 1909.

In a separate action from the air strikes against the Islamic State group, the U.S. bombed a cell of al-Qaida militants in northwestern Syria after concluding they were close to attacking the U.S. or Europe, Pentagon officials say.

Gen. William Mayville, the Pentagon's operations chief, told reporters that the Khorasan Group was nearing "the execution phase of an attack either in Europe or the homeland."

The Khorasan Group, which consists of al-Qaida veterans who fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is focused on attacking the West, not the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Mayville said.