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Unknown Maker, Central Asian

Hanging or cover (suzani)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Central Asian

Culture

Central Asian

Title

Hanging or cover (suzani)

Year

1800s

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

cotton, silk

Geography

Place Made: Central Asia

Dimensions

Length: 174 cm (68 1/2 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Bequest of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich

Object Number

55.210

Type

Exhibition History

Legacy of the Silk Road
Domestic Embroideries from the Caucasus and Central Asia
Feb 17, 2006 – May 28, 2006

Label copy

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.

Baku To Bukhara
Embroideries from the Caucasus and Central Asia
Apr 07, 1999 – Jun 27, 1999

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Central Asian
Hanging or cover (suzani), 1800s
Cotton, plain weave; silk, couching and chain stitch
Length: 174 cm (68 1/2 inches)
Bequest of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich 55.210

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