Uzbekistan’s Artistic Traditions Celebrated in Paris Exhibit
By Elaine Pasquini
Photos by Phil Pasquini
Paris: “On the Roads to Samarkand: Wonders of Silk and Gold,” an exhibition of 300 unique objects never shown outside Uzbekistan, delighted museumgoers in Paris at L’Institut du Monde Arabe November 23, 2022, through June 4, 2023.
The ancient cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, located in present-day Uzbekistan, were major commerce hubs and flourishing artistic centers along the celebrated Silk Road, the sprawling 4,000-mile network of trading passages connecting the East to the West during the first millennium BCE through the 14th century CE.
The exhibition, co-organized with the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Foundation, featured a unique collection of jewelry, carpets, equestrian finery, swords and amulets from state museums in Samarkand and Tashkent.
Many visitors were drawn to the display of unique gold-embroidered caftans created out of Khan-atlas (royal silk) fabric, the characteristic Uzbek material made from complex weaving and dying techniques. Known as chapans, the loose-fitting long coats were often presented as gifts to ambassadors and high-ranking military members.
Women also wore chapans, which indicated a woman’s age and marital status through different colors, and social classes were distinguished by the amount of decoration on the clothing.
Zardazi , the art of gold embroidery, flourished in Bukhara, a melting pot of Persian, Mongolian, Samanid, Arab and Turkish cultures, and a major center of Islamic culture since the eighth century. This special skill reached its peak during the reign of Emir Muzaffar-Ed-Din (1860-1885). By the end of the nineteenth century, 32 embroiders’ guilds were operating in the Bukhara region. Children were allowed to wear gold-embroidered outfits only up to age ten, and even then, only on special occasions.
Necklaces of gold and coral from the Tashkent Museum of Applied Arts and Handicrafts were prominently exhibited. Jewelry was always an integral part of every Uzbek’s woman’s wardrobe.
Caftans created by masters of abrbrandi, an ancient dying and weaving technique, provided another exquisite colorful display in the Paris exhibit.
Also on view were the traditional hats worn by Uzbek men, women and children known as doppi. Historically, patterns on each intricately hand-embroidered classic silk skullcap revealed details about the hat-wearer.
As horses have been central to Uzbek culture and lifestyle for centuries, items of equestrian finery were predominantly displayed, including a trapeze-shaped velvet dauri, which fits under a rider’s saddle, embroidered with gold rosettes. Throughout history, the emirs of Bukhara were dashing figures in their ceremonial equestrian garb accessorized with swords and arms.
The final gallery presented avant-garde paintings from the collection assembled by Igor Savitsky, founder of the Karakalpakstan Art Museum in Nukus, Uzbekistan.
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
