Central Asian, Central Asia

These large embroideries, known as suzani, were made by girls in the oasis towns of Central Asia as part of their dowries. They were used as wall hangings or bed covers. The particular form of couching stitch used in many of these embroideries is often called Bukhara couching.

Despite the specific identification of the suzani motifs and stitches with Uzbekistan, foreign influences and adaptations are quite visible here when compared with the pieces from Persia and China. Stretching from one end of the Silk Road to the other, the continuity of lattice patterning with leaf and rosette motifs is striking, even as scale and color variations tie these textiles to the specific localities in which they were made.