Description

This Uzbek niche suzani dates to around 1900.

The silk embroidery is worked on three, relatively coarse linen panels of just under 30 cm width.

A grid of diamonds is outlined in gold coloured chain stitch, with two areas of off-black at the top of the niche and at the bottom right. The points where the diamonds meet is marked by a five-petalled purple flower head. Inside the centre of the diamonds is a larger blue flower head with four petals and green leaves facing inwards like arrows towards the flower. The border is a meander of a golden vine, with a blue and gold flower head alternately facing inwards and outwards. A sprig of small purple flower heads with green leaves decorates the spaces between the larger flower heads in the meander.

This arrangement of a meandering border is often found in suzanis. However, the restricted colour scheme of the textile in hand, with a strong dominance of blue, is rather unusual.

For a similar design, see the field of a suzani in the Vok Collection, published in Suzani. A Textile Art From Central Asia. Catalogue no. 8 (Edition Vok, 1994). Eberhart Herrmann also published a nim suzani with a similar field design, attributed to Kermina, in the Emirate of Buchara and dated by him to the third quarter of the 19th century (Seltene Orientteppiche IX, 1987, catalogue no. 92, p. 201).

For further discussion of the creation of these embroideries on our website, see https://www.christopherleggeorientalcarpets.com/products/view/uzbek-suzani-ruijo/.

The suzani has some corrosion in the black but is otherwise in very good condition. It is backed on a contemporary good-weight linen.