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.
Photo: MarjonaKhidirova · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Chust doppi
A doppi is made of three parts: crown, band and binding. The Chust doppi is cut from dark green silk or satin into four facets: each facet of the crown carries a pepper-pod (qalampir) or almond motif and each section of the band four arches (mehrob), all densely worked in white thread or silk. When finished, the crown sits square above the band. The Margilan doppi is very similar, but its thinner, longer pepper pods are not filled in solid.
The origin of the pepper-pod motif is still debated; in Uzbekistan it is also read as a symbol of many children.
A cap for every oasis
Chust, Margilan, Andijan, Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Baysun, Shahrisabz and Kokand all have famous doppis. Shahrisabz and Kitab are known for cross-stitched iroqi caps, Urgut and Baysun for quilted piltado‘zi caps, Bukhara for gold-embroidered ones. The doppi is treated with respect: dropping it on the ground or stepping over it is rude. When buying one at a bazaar, ask which oasis it comes from.
Photos
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 · Bukhara
Gijduvan ceramics
Pottery from Gijduvan near Bukhara, glazed in browns, yellows and greens — the best-known centre of the Bukhara–Samarkand school.
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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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.
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.