Suzani Embroidery 1675

An exceptional vintage hand-embroidered Suzani textile from Uzbekistan, showcasing the artistry of Central Asian silk embroidery at its most accomplished. Two large medallions of great visual power, meticulously stitched in lustrous silk threads, dominate the composition in a palette of rich jewel tones — the circular forms symbolizing the sun, the moon, and the cycle of life in the ancient symbolic vocabulary of Central Asian textile art.

Each stitch in this Suzani was placed by hand, the embroiderer working from a paper cartoon drawn on the cotton foundation — a collaborative tradition in which several women might contribute their embroidery skills to a single panel, each bringing their individual artistry to the collective whole. 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: 55” x 107"

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: 1675