Description

This Uzbek silk striped robe dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. The material for the fabric being silk, this robe was made for a wealthy man, most probably in Bukhara. Its large size, with a sleeve span of just under two metres from cuff to cuff, and generous cut underline the status this precious garment would have afforded its wearer. The simplicity of the bold stripes of 15 cm width and in just two colours adds to the impact of this robe.

The lining is unusual: it is a fine off-white silk damask over printed with delicate small flowers in two shades of blue. Predominantly light green, bias cut silk Ikat was used for the facing (see image 2).  The edges are finished by warp twining in white, maroon, green, yellow and light blue silk yarns, with the trim woven as it was being attached to the robe. This would have been the final stage in the assembly of the robe.

For an excellent discussion of the construction of such garments, see Sumru Belger Krody’s Colors of the Oasis.Central Asian Ikats, published on the occasion of the exhibition of the Megalli Collection at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2010, in particular pages 53 to 67.

A very similar robe, dated to the  second half of the 19th century and ascribed to Bokhara, is published in Tairov, Tair F., Ikats From Turkestan. The Tair F. Tairov Collection. Moscow, The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, 2002, catalogue number 98.

The robe is in excellent condition