Uzbek
Antique Uzbek embroideries are among the boldest and most exciting examples of this technique from
Central Asia. Produced in and around the city of Tashkent, Uzbek embroideries often have vibrant colour,
enhanced by the use of silk thread in addition to wool. Designs are often large circular medallions or
star patterns, or patterns derived from Uzbek felt appliqué. But at times they can also have floral vines
derived from Persian embroidery. The rich colour effects are enhanced by the use of deep tones for the ground
fabric, in place of the ivory and tan more customary in Persian and Indian textiles of this type.
The Uzbek tribes are not confined to the boarders of Uzbekistan; they can be found all over central Asia especially in and around Turkmenistan and northern Afghanistan.
The Uzbeks refer to three main types of carpet: gulyam (short pile), julkhirs (long pile), and palas. The characteristic feature of carpets with short pile is their red-brown tint, lit up by a harmony of light-coloured details of the principal medallions, which are frequently of geometrical form.
Palas fabrics are diverse in Uzbekistan. These include: kokhma - a fabric, plain striped in various colours; terma and gadjari - a fabric woven in pattern with different methods of "criss-cross overlap" technique and ornamented with rows of small geometrical vegetal and zoomorphic motifs; and arabi - a cloth, which is woven in the so-called clearance method. Palas fabrics are sometimes supplemented with the superposed design method. This is however a quite complex and arduous method, which resembles embroidery, traditionally known as Beshkashta.
Up until the turn of the 20th century carpets weaving was exclusively the domestic craft of the women
coming from the rural Uzbek areas. Although the demand for carpets was stable and high among the urban
population, they were not made in towns and cities. This demand was met by importing carpets from neighbouring
regions of Asia. In the Soviet era workshops were set up to centralise production and accommodate demands, for
woven carpets, however weaving carpets by hand, at home still remains a popular occupation among the inhabitants
of Uzbekistan.
