Chirdak carpet from the valley of the Tchou.

The Historical Museum of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

 

 

Embroidery

 

Almost all tribes of Central Asia embellished their clothes and practical objects with embroidery. There were many resemblances between Tajik and Uzbek embroidery. This art was so widespread that it could be found, in many rural regions of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan long after the time period; the walls of rooms are adorned with embroidered strips, reminding us of friezes and decorated panels; bedspreads, wedding sheets, little bags to preserve tea, mirror covers, dresses for women and children, belts for men, and skullcaps (tioubétéiki) are embellished with embroidery. Plant patterns are the essential designs, and rosettes frequently occur in the decoration of mural panels.

 

Until the end of the 19th century, silk thread and wool were used for embroidering on white or cream-coloured cotton cloth, woven on a loom with handles. The appearance of industrial cloth with colours and various threads tinted with artificial dyes made the embroidery lose its quality; the designs became many-coloured and the colours were no longer fast.

 

Each region or centre possessed its proper designs and colours; contrasting colours and ornaments of big dimensions characterised the goods from Samarkand and Oura-Tube. The design of the panels from Bukhara, Ferghana, and Tashkent, very lyrical in tone, could be recognised by a great diversity of raspberry shades, pale green, and purple.

 

Golden embroidery, a particularity of the embroidery of Central Asia, flourished towards the middle of the 19th century in Bukhara. It was a craft reserved for men and was passed on from father to son; the embroidery was done with golden and silver thread and was used for gandouras, belts, trousers, and the shoes of emirs and noble people at court. The rich caparisons of the horses and the shabracks were also adorned with golden embroidery, as well as household objects like pillowcases, bedspreads, wallets, knife cases, etc. Golden embroidery was done on dark-coloured velvet: purple, blue, green. The decorative designs of golden embroidery were mostly plant-like; zoomorphic and geometrical designs were rarely encountered.

 

Embroidery was also used for the different felt elements of the yurt, the hangings, passages, storage bags, household utensils, objects for harnessing horses. The Kyrgyz embroideresses knew a great variety of stitches. Patterns of stylised leaves, bushes, and flowers predominated in their deigns, and, more rarely, geometrical and zoomorphic patterns.

 

Traditional Turkman embroidery was essentially used for the decoration of national costumes. Until about the end of the 19th century, they were cut out of woollen or silk cloth made by craftsmen. But from the 20th century on, only cloth produced by industry was used and coloured blue, green, yellow, and, above all, red, the favourite colour which symbolised life, youth and nature’s invigorating strengths. A specific stitch and an original design corresponded with each detail of the clothing. Plant-like volutes, flower buds, tulips, symbols of fertility, predominated in the designs. Representations of teapots, vases, jewellery, stylised animal figures with protective powers and benevolent symbols were sometimes embroidered.