Craft · Bukhara
Gijduvan ceramics
Pottery from Gijduvan near Bukhara, glazed in browns, yellows and greens — the best-known centre of the Bukhara–Samarkand school.
Craft · Bukhara
Suzani and Bukhara embroidery
Large hand-embroidered hangings called suzani; the Bukhara school is known for fine designs covering almost the whole cloth in reds and greens on a pale ground.
Photo: Marat Nadjibaev · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What a suzani is
A suzani (from the Persian suzan, ‘needle’) is a large decorative textile embroidered by hand on cotton, silk or velvet. Girls began stitching them for their dowry when young and brought them to the groom’s house on the wedding day, where they were hung on the wall or spread over the marriage bed. The embroideries described by Ruy González de Clavijo, the Castilian envoy at Timur’s court in 1404, are seen as forerunners of the suzani.
Uzbek embroidery is usually divided into three great schools — Bukhara, Samarkand and Fergana — with Nurata, Shahrisabz and Kitab close to the Bukhara style.
The Bukhara school
A Bukhara suzani is recognisable by its fine, carefully controlled design covering almost the entire surface, with red and green flowers on a light ground. Islimi plant ornament and stylised blossoms dominate, arranged either in a symmetrical diamond lattice or around a large central medallion. Old and new pieces can be seen and bought from makers in Bukhara’s trading domes and craft workshops; if you buy an antique, check the export rules first.
Photos
Craft · Bukhara
Bukhara gold embroidery
Embroidery in gold and silver thread on velvet and silk — the art of the Bukhara emirs’ court and still the city’s most precious craft.
Craft · Fergana
Rishtan ceramics
The blue and turquoise pottery of Rishtan in the Fergana Valley, famed for its ishkor glaze made from plant ash and its local red clay.
Craft · Fergana
Margilan atlas and adras
Margilan’s ikat silks: pure-silk atlas and half-silk adras. UNESCO recognises the town’s work to safeguard them as a model practice.
Craft · Khorezm
Khiva woodcarving
The carved doors and columns of Itchan Kala: Khiva’s carvers never paint the wood, finishing it only with natural oil; the Juma Mosque alone has more than 200 columns.
Craft · Namangan
Chust knives
Hand-forged knives from Chust in Namangan Region: a blade with a slightly upturned tip, the maker’s stamped ‘signature’ and a decorated sheath.
Craft · Namangan
Chust doppi (skullcap)
The four-sided Chust skullcap, with white pepper-pod motifs on dark green, is the best-known emblem of Uzbek dress — and every oasis has its own doppi.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand paper
Paper made from mulberry bark — the finest writing material of the 9th–10th-century Islamic world, revived at Konigil at the end of the 20th century.
Craft · Navoiy
Nurata suzani
Embroideries from Nurata in Navoiy Region: realistic sprays of carnations, irises, cotton flowers and cherries on a pale ground around a central eight-pointed star.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand and Urgut suzani
Big red-and-black circles and rosettes on white define the Samarkand school; Urgut is a living embroidery centre and a favourite bazaar for suzani hunters.