suzani textile

The tradition & historical record

Suzani is a type of embroidered and decorative tribal textile made in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries. Suzani is from Persian: سوزن, romanized: Suzan, lit. 'needle' (Tajik: сӯзан Tajik pronunciation: [sɵ.zän]). The art of making such textiles in Iran is called سوزن‌دوزی suzandozi "needlework". Suzanis are delicate; extremely few examples survive before the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However, they belong to a very ancient tradition. In the early 15th century, Ruy González de Clavijo, the Castilian ambassador to the court of Timur, left detailed descriptions of embroideries that were probably forerunners of the suzani. Suzanis were traditionally made by Central Asian brides as part of their dowry, and were presented to the groom on the wedding day. ¹

Bukhara Suzani Khujand Suzani (Khujand, Tajikistan) Lakai Suzani Nurata Suzani, made in the town of Nurata in Uzbekistan Piskent Suzani Samarkand Suzani Shakhrisabz Suzani Tashkent Suzani Ura Tube Suzani (Istaravshan, Tajikistan) Isfara Suzani (Isfara, Tajikistan) Kulob Suzani (Kulob, Tajikistan) Darvoz Suzani (Darvaz, Tajikistan) ¹

Guide to Suzani by Barry O'Connell. Photographs of all types of suzanis. Article on suzanis Contemporary Uzbek suzanis by Marla Mallett. Includes details of embroidery techniques. "Splendid Suzanis, 2003, Saudi Aramco World All about suzani from Central Asia TRC Needles entry on suzanis. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Suzani (textile)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

suzani textile is embroidered tribal textile made in Central Asia and Iran, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²