The Folk Applied Art

The Folk Art of Karakalpaks became the object oà scientific study due to the comprehensive research work of the prominent scholars such as S.P.Tolstov, N.A.Baskakov, A.L.Melkov, T.A.Zhdanko, A.S.Morozova, and others. Before that few people knew about the Karakalpak Folk art and fragmentary information concerning it in the press was not reliable.

It became possible to know more about the Karakalpak Folk Art when the first collections of their items were formed, initially in the Karakalpak branch of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences in 1959, and later, later in the state muse um of Art named after I.V.Savitskiy. Nowadays, these collections are considered to be the most complete of their kind.

Till the 20th century Karakalpaks had only the applied art, especially such kinds of it like pile rugs, flat weaves, embroidery, appliqué work, printed and stitched leather, carved and inlaid wood, hand-made textiles. Approximately all kinds of Karakalpak folk art can be used in a modern interior and to match its decoration originally. But among them the most popular are pile rugs whose weavers as if to leave their time behind and became able to solve the problems which excite the modern artists. The producers used traditional ornamental composition, but at the same time they varied colors and their shades preserving intact the common color range of the rug. This method made the rug to be very close to the painting.

The small pile rugs often had a relief pattern were the background was deeper than the pattern itself. The large carpets were rarely woven.

A yurt furnishing and a national costume were the major kinds of the Karaaklpak folk art. While a set of the Karakalpak costume had a strict color range, the yurt furnishings also avoided bright colors and large decorative surfaces. The weaving was done using pile and flat weaving techniques in soft colors that combined browns and dark reds delicate touches of blue, green and orange, creating an astonishingly harmonious rhythm. In the twilights of the yurts interior the people in their national costumes successfully stood out against the background of its decoration and blended with it.

The major role in the yurt furnishing belonged to relief and flat weaves. The designed bands were always woven using cotton warp, but relief woven pile bands had usually wool weft, while flat woven ones-silk, wool and cotton wefts.

Woven bands, especially small ones, were made thoroughly and affected by their refinement, clearness and harmony of work. They had different sizes: from the 16 meters long bands to the small rugs. Embroidery was used mainly for decorating the costumes young girls, brides and old women. These three kinds of the female costume were of special importance. They symbolized the purity of youth, strength of a new mature life and wisdom of an old age. Each of them had their own colors which were complemented by a strict set of traditional jewelry. A dark blue color of a dress softened by a crimson embroidery with touches of white and yellow, a red stitched robe with thin stripes, and gold of the gumis-taqya and tobelik head-dresses, silver of numerous jewelry-all of them created the colorful image of the maidens beauty.

The same dark blue dress and others were included in the bride’s costume, complemented by the head-dresses-kiymeshek and sawkele as well as by a mantled jipec-jegde and a set of jewelry.

The particular solemnity was reached by combination of red and black cloth of the kiymeshek, crimson silk of the robe, dark blue embroidered dress, gold, silver, turquoise and carnelians of sawkele and jewelry. The costume of an old woman was of light color, made of cotton fabric and consisted of the white dress ak koylec, head-dress-ak kiymeshek and robe-ak-jegde. They were covered with a fine red embroidery in half-cross stitch.

The Karakalpak embroidery has many ornamental motifs. But within the traditional limits of the motifs the artisans could reveal their creative and individual characters.

Jewelry was made mostly for girls and brides. The women wore much less jewelry after a birth of the first child, and so did the old Karakalpak women. The artisans also produced amulets for children, plates for men’s belts and a rich horse harness.

The jewelry items were mainly made of silver combined with carnelian. They were slightly gilded to stress the pattern. Sometimes they were decorated with turquoise and pink coral.

The girl’s head-dress gumis-taqya, tobelik and wedding head-dress saukele were richly gilded. Gumis takhya and tobelik consist of figured plates, covered by chasing and is decorated with high casing including torquoise and pink coral. The pink coral is prominent in the saukele and in combination with the figured plates in the form of sheep heads, and lines of high casing makes a unique ornamental and original pattern. The tobelik is equally original in its form, a high gilded tiara with the top turned towards the front, and a skull-cup-gumis takhya. All these kinds of Karakalpak folk art are very traditional and testify to the links with ancient art.

Applique work was usually used in making shanash-a long trapezium-shaped bags made of leather and used for keeping flour, cereals and millet. The artisans also used for making bags a black and white cloth. The ornament was geometrical or horn-shaped one. Printed leather had an expressive effect in the tebengi-the insulation plates for preventing stirrups to touch the body of horse. They were printed in the forms or engraved and stamped.

Carved and inlaid wood was widely used in the yurt doors ergenek, in small trunks, chests and stands for meal-sandyk and sabayak. Producing inlaid wood, the artisans used a red cloth and bone which made articles more festive and colourful. Bone was covered with geometrical engraving, while wood was painted in dark brown and dark colours.

Painting on wood came into use in the late 19th early 20th centuries and their depicted figurative objects originally blend with the ornament, receiving its flatness and decorative character.

Ancient and Medieval Art of Khoresm

The Archaeological department of the Karakalpak State Art Museum of Art has an extraordinary interesting collection of exhibits produced by the local masters who lived in the territory of Karakalpakstan (which was called then Khoresm) thousands years ago.

Ancient Khorezm is one of the most enigmatic lands of the Indo-Iranian border regions of norhtern Central Asia that was known from Persian, chinese and Greek texts. It emerged in the junktion of sedentary and nomadic peoples with their different cultures and was located south of the Aral Sea, in the delta of the Amu-Darya River, in the oasis surrounded by the large deserts –the Karakum, the Kyzylkum and the Usturt plateau. This ancient kingdom occupied a vast territory including not only the northern Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan, but also the northern Turkmenistan and partly the Southern Kazakhstan.

The remarkable historical and artistic monuments were preserved from thoes epochs and similar monuments can hardly be found anywhere else in Central Asia.

In the early stages of its history Khorezm was a part of Achaemenid Persian Empire, but by the time of Alexander the Great Khorezm became independent and its king visited Alexander at his camp had talks with him to conclude a military allience. Khorezm has also been regarded the place where one of the most ancient religions Zoroastrianism appeared, because was the first and the best land created by Ahura-Mazda (God), according to the holy books of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta.

Before archaelogical explorations in 1930s led by outstanding Russian scholar S.P.Tolstov nobody knew about the ancient state. However results of his excavations exceeded the most ambitious expectations. Tolstov made a real scientific discovery which is considered now as one of the brightest achievements of the world archaeology. He discovered and explored completely unknown and unique ancient civilization. The importance of his discovery can be compared only with the discoveries of troy by G.schilimann or the Crete civilization by A.Evans. among the significant archaelogical sites found by tolstov there was Koy-Krilgan-Kala (4th centuty B.C) where the earliest observatory of Central Asia was located, whose priests accumulated a rich knowledge in astronomy, including all planets of the Solar system and other selestial bodies and constellations. Another remarkable discovery was the fact that the population of Ancient Khorezm since the 1st millenium B.C. had a water-supply and sewage systems where they used ceramic pipes.

The second important archaeological discovery was a residence place of the Khorezmian kings Toprak-kala (II-IV centuries A.D.). The royal palace had more than 100 rooms where rich alues were found, including a great number of works of art such as round and relief sculptures, decorative and thematical wll paintings, ets.

It was the Khoresm of the Kushan epoch where the original art of the local people flourished influenced not only by the Saka-Massagetae nomadic cultures but also by Hellinistic and Indian cultures.

Even during the subsequent centuries when Khoresm saw a number of foreign invasions, including Arabs and Turkik tribes, the Khorezmian people could preserve their rich cultural traditons and develop them later in the 12th-early 13th centuries when a powerful Khorezmshakhs’ kingdom emerged in central Asia including Transcaucasian region, Iran and Afghanistan. Khorezm reached its cultural peak at that time when its artisans produced many works of art whose originality is greatly fascinating everybody even nowadays. But all these cultural achievements were relentlessly stamped out by the Mongolian hordes who devastated the country in the early 13th century. Only after several decades the Khorezmian civilization revived and continued to develop its ancient culture.

Inspite of all violet historical events Khorezm did not perish and existed untill the 1st quarter of the 20th century when it became a part of the modern Uzbekistan.

The exhibits of the archaeological section of the Karakalpak State Museum of Art named after Savitskiy.

Antiquity period (4th century B.C.-4th century A.D.)

Hair-pin (2nd-1st centuries B.C.). Made of bronze in the 4 shape of female hand holding a fruit (an apple or pome-granate). A snake-shaped bracelet on the wrist is successfully completed the whole composition. Refinement and beauty of the hair-pin make it a masterpiece of small-sized art.

Female figurine (5th century B.C). Made of clay in the form. It depicts a sitting woman whose right hand is clasped to her breast and her left hand-to her belly. The human’s dress is hanging down in parallel pleats covering her knees. The woman is crossing with crossed legs, and her almond-shaped eyes are looking staright forward. She has a rather high hair-do and is holding beads in her left hand.

Anthropomorphic ossuary (2nd century B.C.).Hand-made ceramic. It is made in the shape of a sitting man with his hands clasped to his belly. Supposedly the man is dressed in a long garment and he has the soft boots on his feet. His face with the large almond-shaped eyes has a straight nose and there is a kind of scull-cap on his head.

Anthropomorphic ossuary (head of sculpture) (1st-2nd centuries A.D.). Fragment. The head is made of clay in life size scale, and has pink slip. The young woman with round face is depicted. She has almond-shaped eyes with relief eye-lids but without iris and eye-pupils. Her nose is broken. She also has a small mouth and large ears with holes for ear-rings. Her hair is brushed back over her ears and drops on her neck in two wide curles. Her hair-do is rather high. Found in the environs of Kyrk-kyz-kala (the Kushan period).

Male figurine (2nd-3rd centuries A.d.). Made of clay in the form and depicts a naked man holding a knife in his right hand and a grape in his left hand. The backside is flat while its front side is a low relief. Judging by the things in his hands, the figurine symbolises the god of Bacchic cult. Found in the environs of Ayaz-kala.

Female figurine (1st-3rd centuries A.D.).Made of Ivory. It is a sculpture in the round shape, although its backside is slightly flattened. Her head is lost. The figurine depicts a standing woman dressed in a long robe with a belt. Her fluid drapery is conveyed by several furrows. Her hands are hanging down in the direction of her belly. Supposedly it is the goddes of fertility Anakhita. Found at Toprakh-kala.

Aset of golden jewellery from the sarcophagus found in necropolis of Mizdahkan.

A golden ring (3rd century A.D.).There is a shallow horizontal furrow on the surface of its circle. It is decorated with granulation and precious stone almandin.

The golden ring (3rd century A.D.). absolutely similar to the ring describedabove.

The golden ear-rings (3rd century A.D.). They have a shape of a pyramid with four flar sides and remind a lantern. Their top is round-shaped and adorned with granulation and precious stone almandin.

The golden pendant (3rd century A.D.).It has a semi-spherical shape and its external surface is divided into several portions inserted with almandin and decorated with granulation. The pendant has four smaller pyramidal oendants under its dome, resembling the bells.

Early Middle Ages. (6-8 centuries A.D.)

Box-shaped ossuary (6th century A.D.). Found on the necropolis of ancient mizdahkan. There is a relief scene on its walls depicting a lion between two stylized pome-granate trees, symmetrically located on both sides of composition. The realistically depicted lion is succesfully completed by ornamental details of composition.

Censer (8th century A.D). Found at Tok-kala. Hand-made of clay. It has a shape of semi-spherical bowl (or vase) with a long stem on the flat base, with round handle. Its rolled rim and stem junkcion are decorated with raised bands. The censer’s surface has red slip and traces of uneven firing.

Horse sculpture (7-8 century A.D.).Terracotta. The round and hollow horse sculpture was made of clay and covered with whitish slip. The front arch of its saddle survived. There are traces of the rider’s legs on the horse body and of a plume onits head. It has a decoration onits breast consisting of three large medallions. Found during construction of the Tuya-Muyun water reservoir.

Late Middle Ages.(9-10 centuries.)

Round decorative vessel (9-10 centuries). Fuond at Tok-kala. The vessel has a globe-shaped body and a straight low neck without rim. Its surface has a red slip. An ornament decorating the upper portion of the vessel consists of a number of through triangles.

Epoch of Khorezmshakhs and the Golden Horde (12-13 centuries)

Wall painting inserted in gypsum (12 century, Kyzyl-Kala). The survived painting is represented by the floral motif. There is a branch with long pointed leaves of green, black and red colours against the yellowish background. The points of green leaves are directed toward upside, while the red ones are curvedto both sides of the stem. There are two curving black petals in the downside portion.

Bronze lamp (12-13 centuries, Kavat-kala). The figured lamp consists of a vertical stem, a disk-shaped middle portion and a semi-sphrical base with three curved legs. The lamp surface and its base are richly decorated with floral and geometrical designs.

Glazed jug ( 12-13 centuries, Big Guldirsin). It has an elongated shape, narrow in the upper side, and wide neck with vertical handle in the shape of question mark. The jug’s surface is glazed and adorned with multy-coloured floral design, where dark green and light brown colours prevail.