Especially the work of Khamsa. This work is designed in a unique way. But it’s unlikely that the cover was originally decorated. Darya Olegovna Vasilyeva, the Iranian fabrics specialist of the State Hermitage Museum, managed to establish that woven female figures were once part of an Iranian velvet cloth of the first half or mid-17 th century, the exact match to which has not so far been found in the Museums of the world. Technologically, the cloth was very difficult to produce, its design was carried out by an artist obviously influenced by the portraits of Venetian ladies.
Later the figures, a bit frayed, were cut out of the old textile and glued into the new violet-coloured velvet immediately on the covers of the binding. It probably took place in the 19th century during the repair of the binding, when the edges of the covers were reinforced with the same brown leather of which the new spine was made. The book is wrapped in two silk dust-covers.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Arts of the book in the 15th–17th-century Mawarannahr" (Volume XVII) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
What discovery did the Hermitage expert make in Navoi’s work?
Navoi's works have always been of great importance.