The State Museum of Arts exhibits a small but meaningful collection of items of this craft created by the masters of Samarkand and Bukhara. The raw materials for them were skins of various animals, used for making greenish shagreen, coloured yuft, Morocco and chamois leather. Leather products were decorated with embossing, embroidery, applied coloured leathers, and overlaid silver plaques with engraving.
In the late 19th– early 20th centuries, at the bustling bazaars of Samarkand and Bukhara, skilful charmaduzes (tanners) embroidered chamois leather hunting pants, fur leather boots, cushions, purses, men’s belts with elegant patterns … right before the eyes of the client. An example of a finely crafted leather purse is presented in the Museum exposition. The finest embossed ornaments covered bindings and folders for papers – juzgir, which were used by the theologians and scholars of that time. The decoration of horse harnesses, trunks, and men’s belts was also performed by leather craftsmen.
Bukhara leather workers also manufactured special cases for storing porcelain tableware, highly valued by cattlemen. A fine example of such a leather case is kept in the collection of State Museum of Arts.
You can learn more about this topic in the book-album “The Collection of the State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan” (Volume XIII) from the series “Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in the world collections”.
The general sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
What did masters-charmaduzes make from leather?
In the applied art of Uzbekistan, a certain place was occupied by artistically decorated leather products.