Unknown Maker, Turkish

A heavily embroidered suzani such as this one might well have taken over two years to make. With such an investment of time and energy, it should not surprise that the embroiderer used a colorful warp ikat textile as the facing for this piece, another valuable cloth made in the urban centers of Central Asia as a collaborative effort by craftsmen of different religions and cultures. An added layer of cross-cultural exchange can be found in the Russian printed cotton that lines the back of this and many other suzanis.