The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Suzani with floral sprays

Suzani with floral sprays

1800–1850
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Six narrow lengths of handwoven cotton cloth were joined and then embroidered with vibrant silk thread to make this suzani.

Description

Embroidered textiles were essential items in dowries. This type, known as a suzani after the Persian and Tajik word for needle, suzan, were created by mothers and daughters who proudly displayed them during wedding festivities and special occasions. This is an especially striking example, probably embroidered in Shakhrisyabz, located south of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, during 1800–1850.

Suzani were made for numerous functions including the nuptial bed, curtains for storage niches, and wrappers for various dry goods. Floral and foliate motifs generally dominate as seen here, enriched with several shades of red and enhanced by the varied light reflections and colors of the silk thread. Possibly the motifs conveyed cosmological, apotropaic, medicinal, or fertility associations especially for married life.

Patterns were drawn in black ink on several loosely joined cotton cloths by a skilled family member or a professional. The cloths were then separated, embroidered individually, and reattached, confirmed by mismatched motifs where the lengths are joined. They are generally attributed to nineteenth-century production after sericulture was introduced in the Merv area around 1800.
  • by 1994–2016
    Ignazio Vok [b. 1938], Austria and Italy
    2016
    John and Fausta Eskenazi, London, UK, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2016–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Knorr, Thomas (editor) and Sager, Helen (editor) Textilkunst Der Steppen- Und Bergvölker Zentralasiens: Ausstellung, Gewerbemuseum Basel, 1974. Basel: s.n., 1974.
    Gisela Helmecke. “Die ‘Buchara’-Stickereien Im Islamischen Museum Zu Berlin.” Forschungen Und Berichte 23 (1983). pp. 118–129 doi.org
    Čepeleveckaja, Galina L. Susani Usbekistans: Ein Beitrag Zur Technik, Ornamentik Und Symbolik Der Usbekischen Seidenstickerei. Berlin: Schletzer, 1991. pp. 7-75, illustration 11
    Vok, Ignazio, and Jakob Taube. Suzani: a textile art from Central Asia: Vok collection. Oberhaching, Germany: Herold Verlagsauslieferung,1994. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no 19
  • Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 7, 2017-October 29, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=Suzani with floral sprays|url=false|author=|year=1800–1850|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.89