The ornamentation consisted mainly of vegetal and flower motifs, among which the most expressive were large rosettes and palmettes. There are also images of animals and objects of everyday use, whose shapes resemble plants. Flowers cannot always be identified as easily as, for example, in Turkish embroidery. One of the few flowers which embroideresses gave a specific name to was, in the opinion of G. Chepelevetskaya, iris. Also on suzani you can identify carnation, tulip, mallow and apple-tree flower; among fruits there are pomegranate, cherry or sweet cherry, poppy-head and pepper. In other cases, vegetal motifs were simply referred to as gul – a flower.
O. Sukhareva, on the basis of her ethnographic research, pointed out motifs that originally functioned as talismans. For example, a curved knife stylized as a plant surrounded by leaves: evil spirits could not harm a person who had a knife with him. It was also believed that pepper drives away evil forces, almonds – a frequent motif on embroidery – could protect children from evil spirits. The symbol of fertility from ancient times in some countries, including Uzbekistan, was pomegranate.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Collection of the Czech Republic" (Volume XVI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
