Uzbek Suzani

The fundamental type of Uzbek embroidery is called suzani. The word suzani comes for the Persian word for needle. Suzani can take many forms ranging from large, decorative wall hangings and curtains to small functional household items such as bags to hold tea or spices.

Suzani from all regions of Uzbekistan share several com mon features. They were typically made on handmade fabrics  called   matha.   The  background  fabric  was hand-woven on a loom, which produced narrow strips of fabric that were of a convenient size for embroidery.

 

When creating a suzani, the first task was carried out by a local graphic artist, called a chiz-makash. She would tack four to five pieces of fabric together,  and then  with  sharp  reed,  called  a kalam, painted the outline of the suzani pattern on the fabric. The designer knew many patterns from memory and would modify them all the time, while still retaining the traditions and characteristics of a specific school  of ornamental composition and graphic style. Because of this practice, embroidery from Bukhara can easily by distinguished from the embroidery of Tashkent, for example, by their pattern and composition.

 

After the outline was painted on the background fabric, it was cut into pieces and distributed to women embroiders. When the sections were complete, they would be assembled again. In many suzani, when the strips were joined, patterns were slightly misaligned or the colors used in each section did not exactly match. These characteristics demonstrate that the piece was created over a long period of time by many women. A large piece of embroidery made by a group of women would typically take up to two years to completed, while some pieces could take even five or six years depending on the size and stitching technique used. When the embroidery was ready, the women had a small party with refreshments which often included sacrificing a lamb.

 

 

A small section of the suzani was traditionally left unfinished. The unfinished area represented "never-ending marriage, never-ending life, never-ending joy."

For most embroidery, the women used cotton and silk threads spun and dyed by local craftsmen. The threads were often colored using natural dyes made from madder, cochineal, indigo, and pomegranate skin.

Suzani exists in multiple forms, including the following:

 

•  nimsuzani, a small sized embroidery from Bukhara and Nurat

•  choishab, curtains and sheets                                                                           

•  kirpech, narrow, vertical strips of embroidery

•  zardevor, a long, frieze embroidery that borders the walls of a room

•  djoinamoz, prayer carpets                                                                               

•  pillowcases, called takyapush in Nurat, bolingush in Samarkand, and yastikpush  in Shakrisabz

•  bugdjoma, full-length veils for covering a woman's clothing

•  khalta, small bags to hold a woman's mirror or shona-khalta to hold a comb

•  tanpokkun, towels used during wedding ceremonies

•  sarandoz, women's veils or shosi, women's veils worn during ceremonial occasions

•  rumli-peshone-bundac, women's headpieces

•  miyinbund or belbog, men's sashes made from a woman's veil

•  dastrumol, handkerchiefs presented during weddings

•  choy-khalta, bags to hold tea and clothing accessories

•  jeeyak, ribbon

•  peshicoorta, embroidered dress panels and sleeves.

 

 

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, the main centers of suzani embroidery were in Samarkand, Urgut, the Surkhandariya region, the Kashkadariya region, the Shafrikhan  district of the Bukhara  region,  Djizzak,  Shakhrizabz,  Kokand,        

Margilan, Namangan, Andijan, the Muinak district of Karakalpakistan, and Tashkent. Embroidery produced in each region has its own distinguishing features:{mospagebreak}

 

 

The embroidery of Samarkand is notable for its large, simple designs typically consisting of coarse rosettes embroidered in a violet-crimson-black color palette using a stitch called bosma.

Shakrisabz embroidery, also known as carpet embroidery, often includes multi-colored details on dark blue leafy garlands. Typical stitches of Shakrisabz embroidery are kanda-khayol or tambour (chain-stitch).

 

 

The traditional composition of Tashkent embroidery consists of dark-red circles with a star in the center, or a circle with flowers, and a large amount of blank background space.

 

 

The embroidery from Fergana Valley also contains noticeable differences. It has a refined graphic design consisting of branches with flowers, and it also has larger areas of blank background space.

 

Modern embroidery from Bukhara often includes sprouts with flowers, which spread all over the surface of the fabric, round rosettes, and light color combinations. The embroidery stitch is typically the tambour stitch or bosma stitch.

 

 

Surkhandariya and Kashkadariya embroidery is not as large as the embroidery of Fergana Valley and has retained ancient ornamental motifs and a contrasting color spectrum. The kanda-khyol stitch is used.