Residents of oases embroidered large-scale interior panels to decorate their homes, while the steppe peoples used this type of needlework to decorate clothing and its parts, as well as to decorate various types of bags. Embroidery was an essential part of every girl's dowry and played an important role in wedding ceremonies: each type had a certain ritual meaning. It could take up to two years to work on one large panel. If it was a continuous embroidery (over the entire surface of the base fabric or clothing), it took even longer.
Among the most common types of products in this type of applied art are large decorative suzani embroideries. They were created in villages and cities of oases, places of residence of the sedentary population (Bukhara Emirate, Kokand Khanate), were used in the interior of a traditional dwelling as wall panels, curtains and covers and had practical, aesthetic and even magical-protective significance. On wedding days, suzanis decorated the newlyweds' room.
Embroidery was done according to a pre-drawn pattern, which was applied to the base, previously stitched from individual narrow panels of hand-woven fabrics. Experienced drawing women (kalamkash chizmaqash) were invited to apply the drawing. They used a thin pointed reed stem, kalam, ink or water-diluted soot. Besides the reed stem, a sharpened stick could also be used, later a regular ballpoint pen.
The correctness of the circles was achieved using ceramic bowls of different sizes, which were placed upside down on the surface of the fabric and traced around. The drawing women knew many traditional patterns and their variations, with which they could create new variations of compositions. As a rule, they also determined the color palette of the future product, marking specific parts of the ornament with simple stitching with yarn of the corresponding color.
When the sketch was drawn, the base of the future embroidery, stitched together on a "live" thread, was unsewn into the initial panels, which were distributed to women for further work. This method allowed several embroiderers to be involved and complete the work as quickly as possible. The individual already embroidered parts of the base were then sewn together finally.
The embroidery collection at the Naprstka Museum is represented by a number of suzanis. The most valuable among them are the Nurata suzani and the joйнаmaz prayer rug from Tashkent, received by the Museum in 1899. The Tashkent embroidery school is also represented by palaks dating from around 1900, and the Bukhara school is represented by the ruиджо wedding cover from the second half of the 19th century.
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".
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