In the splendid occasion of the 4th International Congress "The Legacy of Uzbekistan : Mutual Influence of Civilizations and Renaissances", 15 - 18 December 2020 Tashkent, part of the Project "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collection", and of the publication of a series of albums, an important collection of Central Asian antique textiles was uncovered in Italy - among them a large corpus of present Uzbekistan suzanis, costumes and traditional woven objects.
Alberto Levi is the collector.
Asides reckoning himself a 'hunter and gatherer' in a true archeological perspective to the extent of travelling the world and hunting the best and more often than not hidden preys, he is also an epicure.
Such attitude permitted him to collect a unique variety of textiles drawn by quality and luxury, and, by the innate inclination towards heritage preservation.
In the attentive analysis of the Levi's collection suzani designs (addressed in the album essay by this author) some features distinguished as seal of the multifaceted cultural legacy permeating the visual language embroidered on the pieces.
Here we like to share the short supplement that was presented as a video in the lectures section of the Congress. It consists of an insight into a specific design - the floral spray featured in the Nurata group.
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Levi's Nurata, detail
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The author aims to focus on the relationship of this pattern with Indian art.
Bonds with Indian art are grounded on historical evidence. In fact, while history says that a large community of Indian merchants were operating in Central Asia since the 15th century, textiles studies reveal the great favour for Indian fabrics, epitomised in the Cotton Road, less known, but as important as the Silk 'sister'.
Importantly, Indian cottons and Kashmir shawls were regularly exchanged in Central Asian markets. Traded for local consumption and international consumers, they have been influential source of imitation and inspiration to the point of creating a sort of cross-pollination of style and design.
The Levi's collection has two such pieces of brilliant beauty.
The floral spray is principal ornament in the Nurata group yet not exclusive, fact proven by this piece from Shahresabz.
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| Shahresabz suzani with floral sprays, Christie's |
It is hard to not recall the myriad floral sprays populating Indian art in the 17th and 18th century, a long period of intense craze not second to the Tulip Era. The similarity is cogent and reasonable.
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| End of pashmina shawl, 17th c. (in A. Pathak, Pashmina) |
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| Indian gown, 18th c., The York Museum Trust |
Flora sprays are indeed typical of Mughal art, although common feature in the Islamic context.
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| Marble panel from the Taj Mahal |
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| Drawing for the decoration of the Taj Mahal, The British Museum |
Then, let’s go tracking them in the roots of Mughal art.
Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty was born in Anjian, Uzbekistan. Son of the Emir of Ferghana he raised in a Timurid court.
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| Babur in a landscape, Mughal folio 1605-1615, The British Museum |
Claiming to descend from both Timur and Chingiz Khan, he decided to revive their imperial traditions.
First act of kingship, he made gardens built on conquered lands as his forbears did. In the folio below he is supervising the lying of the Garden of Fidelity in his first capital Kabul.
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| Babur supervising the construction of the Garden of Fidelity in Kabul, 1590, Victoria & Albert Museum |
His Central Asian predecessors were actually fond of gardens, a passion inherited from Timur.
Samarkand had 9 such gardens built under his reign and others paved his tireless moving. They were royal encampments where the Prince held court, gave rest to the army and showed his power.
Timur adopted the traditional nomadic encampment usually home to the tribe’s festivals and ceremonies.
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| Nomadic encampment, China 15th, The Metropolitan Museum |
But he adapted the camp to a new Princely Vision. Not more than gentrified camping grounds, they soon became refined gardens via advanced horticulture, architecture and portable structures.
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| Royal Reception in a Landscape, late 15th c., The Cleveland Museum |
Sprays of flowers abound as seen also in the art of the landscape design. Below, an idyllic landscape replenished with natural recurrent themes: trees, flowers, birds, water, earth and sky.
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| Court poets of Ghazni, Herat 1444, The Fitzwilliam Museum |
It is important to mark that nature has been associated with the feminine element of Spring, Birth and Perennial Life ever since. These are again notions rooted in ancestral nomadic traditions. Not for nothing, Timur used to dedicate his gardens to his wives.
Coming back to Babur, his intention to revive the Timurid splendours produced a real exchange of knowledge and art between India and Central Asia.. Seyyed Mirak, a famous agronomist and garden architect, moved from the last fabulous Timurid capital Herat to work in Agra 1529.
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| Babur Receiving Envoys, 1590, Indian School, Fineartamerica |
One year later he turned to Central Asia and in Bukhara constructed a magnificent garden for ‘Ubeydallah Khan I. His son, Mohammad, in 1559 went from Bukhara to Delhi charged with the construction of Homayun’s tomb. An artistical symbiosis was really occurring between the Central Asian Khanates and the Mughal Empire.
In a short time Mughal art landed at a unique floral style here epitomised in a silk velvet fragment and a silk embroidered cotton panel.
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| Silk velvet fragment, knotted carpet, mid 17th c., Victoria and Albert Museum |
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| Silk embroidered cotton panel, 17th/18th ., MFA Boston |
Shah Jahan, reportedly the initiator of the style, aiming at a personal imprint in the kingship, sought again inspiration in the Timurid legacy. Promoted royal gardens and moving cities as pomp of power. While Mughal naturalistic depictions truly cope with the influence of European botanical books that were avidly collected at court libraries, they may have been a way of updating the conventional Timurid style.
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| Floral Study, Mughal folio 1630, The British Library |
Period Indian carpets are exquisite example of the art and are rightly called ‘Landscape carpets’. They were meant to replicate real fields of flowers and flowerbeds. The style went viral.
Below, the miniature sports a flowerbed replenished with floral sprays in a princely garden.
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| Landscape garden, assemblage, India (Lahore?) mid 17th c., Moshe Tabibnia |
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| A Prince in a garden meeting, Mughal folio 1615-20, Chester Beatty |
Finally, I like to address the influence of Kashmir shawl designs.
Central Asia was well acquainted with Kashmir shawls. The luxury fabric was in fact much sought after in Safavid, Ottoman and Uzbek courts. Akbar introduced Kashmir shawls in the khilat ceremony, bestowing cloth of honour, and the use soon spread across Central Asia to the point that in 19th century Bukhara it is still verified among nobility and officials.
Regular commercial activities between Kashmir and Central Asia were dynamic till the 19th century - Bukhara the principal entrepot . And, we can safely say that Kashmiri traders contributed to the familiaraization of these designs. Blossoming shrubs in a row ornate many Kashmir shawls in the 17th, 18th and early 19th century complying with the period craze.
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| Shah Jahan, Mughal folio, 17th c. |
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| Indian prince, Mughal floio 1700, San Diego Museum of Art |
Again, myriads of floral compositions woven on these clothes were once more available to the ingenious creativity of Uzbek weavers. Here some examples.
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| Pallakas (end of the long shawl) of a man court sash, Kashmir 17th-18th c., MFA Boston |
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| Long shawl, Kashmir II half of the 17th, The David Collection |
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| Long shawl, Kashmir 18th, Victoria and Albert Museum |
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| Detail of the above design |
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| Detail, long shawl, Kashmir, 18th, The Tapie Collection |
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| Detail, long shawl, Kashmir, 18th c |
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| Long shawl, Kashmir, 1790-1800 |
For comparison, I like to share here the details of the diverse floral sprays in a Nurata suzani conserved in the MAAS, Australia. Principal design a large carnation cluster, then a carnation spray and some fancy designs.
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In this light we can say that the weavers’ enchanting abilities preserved in the floral sprays two main factors of the rich Uzbek identity – the nomadic encampment, seal of the steppe roots, and the royal garden, show of wealth and status.
As tokens for the journey we offer again the pictures of the two Levi's Nurata suzanis.
The one exudes the pure elegance of the Taj Mahal pietra dura inlays, the other invokes the glorious opulence of Spring and Birth.
