Suzani Embroidery 1669

A striking vintage hand-crafted Suzani from Uzbekistan worked in lustrous silk threads on a dark ground — an unusual and dramatic choice that gives this piece an immediate visual depth and intensity unlike the more typical cream-field Suzanis of the tradition. The floral designs emerge from the dark background with a jewel-like luminosity that rewards close inspection and shifts beautifully with changing light.

Silk-on-dark-ground Suzanis are among the rarest and most desirable in the Uzbek tradition — the dark foundation amplifying the brilliance of the silk threads and creating a contrast of shadow and light that gives these pieces an almost three-dimensional quality. Suzani embroideries — the name derived from the Persian word for 'needle' — are among the most celebrated and visually exuberant textile traditions in Central Asia. Produced primarily in the Uzbek cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Nurata, suzanis were traditionally created by a bride and her female relatives in the months before a wedding, each woman contributing embroidered panels that would be assembled into a single celebratory textile of great beauty and personal significance. The most prized suzanis are worked in hand-twisted silk thread on a handwoven cotton foundation, their large floral medallions and vine designs reflecting centuries of artistic refinement along the Silk Road.

Dimensions: 48” x 77"

Date of Manufacture: 2nd Quarter of the 1900s

Place of Origin: Uzbekistan, Central Asia

Material: Silk embroidery on cotton foundation

Condition: Wear consistent with age and use

SKU: 1669