Re: Transoxianian patterns

Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on September 30, 1999 at 14:03:40:

In Reply to: Transoxianian patterns posted by Kathy on September 30, 1999 at 06:31:45:

These folks, north of Afghanistan, east of Persia , I don't
have very recent maps in the house, but Transoxiana is
Turkistan, and Uzbeckistan, cities are Samarkand, Bukhara and
Tashkent. ....not many people get out that way, and the USSR kept
them pretty much closed off for a long time. I do have two books with
good pictures, "Caravans to Tartary" by Roland and Sabrina Michaud,
1977, Thames and Hudson, (that book has several photographs of a
wedding procession etc); and "Aus Steppe und Oase, Bilder
Turkestanisher Kulturen", by Johannes Kalter, 1983, Edition Hansjorg
Meyer. Also...the KSU Fashion Museum has a pretty good collection of
these garments, that they've let me go through when researching, and
some friends of ours run a business called "Touch the Earth" that
bring clothing jewelery and carpets from that part of the world to
Brushwood each summer. I absolutely love the stuff!!!!

Lessee if I can describe one of these ladies in her best
clothing....an older lady with a lot of status....

She has a high cap, about 14" from forehead to crown, and cylindrical,
covered in embroidery (flowers, red, fuschia, and bright green) and
silver coins, tassles and pendants, with long chains of silver bangles
that drape from the sides down past her collarbone. There is a silk
veil, scarlet , that is fastened into the sides of this cap, that
covers her ears, and throat....and falls over her shoulders to about
elbow length. Her jacket is of dark green or cotton and silk,
heavilly embroidered down the front, and at the cuffs. There is an
array of silver bangles stitched onto the jacket, covering the entire
chest..the jacket is ankle length, and unbuttoned. Her underdress is
of floral print cotton, in the same brilliant reds, greens, fuschias
... rose patterns are favored, and that covers bloomers of similar
material. The clothing weighs about 40 pounds altogether, nearly
half the weight of the lady. All this restricts her movements, giving
her the impression of being regal and elegant, but keeps her warm and
displays her wealth and status in the group. Only her hands and face
show. On one photograph I have, the henna stain on a lady's
fingernails complement the overall deep crimson, marigold, mossgreen,
violet and silver array of her clothing. The girls wear small caps,
and their hair is not covered. They have loose cottom print bloomers,
skirts and tunics, suitable for scampering. . A fair amount of their
jewelery is amuletic. They do henna, but not often, as henna powder
has to be brought up from Iran. Henna is about as likely to grow in
the backyard of Tashkent as Butte, Montana.

Follow-ups:

• Excellent Description Kathy 22:13:55 9/30/99 (2)
  • Thanks...but not Rom Catherine Cartwright Jones 23:50:24 9/30/99 (1)
    • Patterns? Patterns? SeeSee 21:13:19 10/02/99 (0)