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42a -
This khalta exhibits the classic design and technical features of Lakai work and thus, small as it is, can stand as a representative
example of their distinctive and striking cross-stitch embroidery
work. The most extended description of Lakai domestic textiles is by
Kate Fitz Gibbon and Andy Hale in their Hali article.1 In reference
to the embroidery, they explain that “The patterns for embroidery
were drawn with chalk, or outlined in simple stitches, by old women
who worked as pattern designers, called sysgytsch. The Lakai bought
silk from traders who came from Bukhara, or local silk from Kuliab
or Kabajan. If the silk was not dyed when they bought it, they
purchased dyes from gypsies and dyed it themselves.”
As Fitz Gibbon and Hale state, stylistically, “clean sharp lines and
flat surfaces of clear, saturated color are characteristic of true
Lakai embroidery.” This is particularly manifest in the cross-stitch
pieces such as this one with its neatly defined angularity.
The striking diamond form latch-hook medallion that dominates the
design is an iconic Lakai motif in the cross-stitch environment,
which employs a vocabulary distinct from that of the freely
embroidered Lakai textiles. It is white against a red ground and
three diamond forms are embedded within it on green, red and yellow
grounds. The longer lines of this central motif are stepped or
serrated while the inner diamonds are marked by projecting
triangles, emerging from their points, distinctive features of Lakai
cross-stitch embroidery. These two types of embellishment enliven
the stark lines of the embroidery, making more dynamic what
otherwise might look too static, as well as showcasing the talent of
the embroiderer. Each spandrel is occupied by another type of
latch-hook medallion organized four-square rather than on the
diagonal as is the central figure.
In a manner characteristic of Lakai embroidery, but also of other
Central Asian groups including the Kungrat and the Kirghiz, the
design is inflected on the diagonal, the lower left and upper right
spandrels having black grounds, whereas the upper left and lower
right ones have green grounds. This principle also applies to the
centers of the four-square güls. The narrow upper and lower borders
feature abstract, recumbent “S” forms, while the broader lower
border contains reciprocal triangles with smaller projecting
triangles such as those in the central medallion.2
All Central Asian peoples created small bags, often featuring very
high quality embroidered work. As Janet Harvey says, they could
“hold domestic items such as tea-leaves, or a personal mirror, or
embroidery threads. A Central Asian woman…enjoys prestige according
to the skill and profusion of her embroideries. Exquisitely
embroidered small bags…are often offered to guests as a memento of
the family or a talisman for the ongoing journey.” 3
Fitz Gibbon and Hale illustrate a similar khalta in their article.4 Two other closely related examples
were recently seen on a commercial web site. However, although
clearly made up as purses, these seem not to have been purpose–made
since the designs in each were
interrupted –– cut from a larger composition –– as opposed to integrated
with the form of the object intended, as in the exhibit example. On
the other hand, a two-sided piece on the same website was manifestly
purpose-designed and fashioned to be a bag. Interestingly, this
website displayed another bag which employed the same distinctive
straps for its handles, but this time with pieced and appliquéd
decoration as well as using cross-stitching for an inner border.
The palette of this piece is somewhat simpler than the others on
view, including “only” seven colors, white, black, purple, red,
light blue, light green and yellow. The density of the
cross-stitching may also be slightly less than normal and it does
not completely mask the red cotton backing, which may be seen
particularly clearly in the areas embroidered white. Although the
front was clearly purpose-made, the back side of this bag was cut
from a much larger embroidery, that section visible here consisting of
portions of two sunburst medallions with open centers from which
emanate rays grouped in various colors: purple, gray-purple, green,
yellow and white silk against the same sort of imported red cotton
ground. It is a characteristic Lakai gesture that the wrapping of
the seams with purple silk thread is accented by a tiny section of
yellow.
JBS
1) Fitz Gibbon, Kate & Andrew Hale, “The Bad Beys of Central Asia,”
Hali 75, June-Julys9, 104
2) A very similar strip of design is to be found at the top of an uut
kap ilgitsh, fig. 19, p. 79 in the Fitz Gibbon and Hale article in
Hali, “Bad Beys…”
3) Harvey, Janet, Traditional Textiles of Central Asia, London,
Thames & Hudson, 1996, p. 141
4) Fitz Gibbon & Hale, “Bad Beys…”, fig. 13, p. 77.
42b -
As with just about anything else Lakai, one
must turn to Kate Fitz Gibbon and Andy Hale for informed commentary
regarding this elongated pentagonal textile.
As they say in their seminal article in Hali, “The pentagonal uut
kap ilgitsh are similar in shape to the uut kap tent-pole bags,
household storage bags with multiple uses that are common to many
Uzbek tribes. Both types of ilgitsh are usually constructed like
bags, but are physically too delicate to be used as containers…”
1 The present example is one of four in the owner’s
collection. It is distinctly the smallest and has lost the tassels
that embellish the other three. It is one of two that actually
retain an opening as opposed to being explicitly decorative (and,
possibly, talismanic) but whereas the other is actually sturdy
enough to have been used as a container despite being highly
decorated, this one employs a very flimsy trade cotton cloth to form
the back of the bag and could not have been of much use as a
container.
This uut kap ilgitsh is also one of two in this group of four that
employ cross-stitch embroidery as the principal form of decoration.
The long sides are decorated with a border comprising reciprocal
stepped triangular forms in yellow on a black or lilac ground. The
stepping is heightened by the addition of tiny yellow squares that
meet the points of the steps. A series of larger and smaller
diamond-form medallions dominate the field. The eleven larger
figures––a relatively uncommon motif in the Lakai
repertoire––feature lateral projections and frame a serrated diamond
in a contrasting color, five in pairs, the largest placed beneath
them within the “V”. Six smaller diamonds in two sizes, with the
triangles projecting from their sides characteristic of Lakai work,
occupy the interstices of the larger figures. The Lakai stylistic
propensity for diagonal matching is subdued in this piece due to the
character of its decoration, but it is nevertheless suggested by the
diagonal matches of three outer colors––black, white and purple––and
the black centers of the central diagonal pair. Otherwise, a lively
variation of color pairings prevails. A notable aspect of the design
is the pronounced “abrash” of the ground, which is made of both red
and lilac silk. This is not particularly common in Lakai textiles,
although surprising shifts are not unknown and are exhibited in both
ground color and pattern in the example illustrated by Fitz Gibbon &
Hale.2 In our piece, we return to a nine-color
palette: black, white, blue, purple, lilac, red, orange, yellow and
light green, with a tenth, light blue, among which are the succession of four
colors of the edge finish. As would seem to be typical of a real
country piece, the corrosive crimson wool is absent from the mix.
The cross-stitching is sufficiently fine to mask the elaborate
imported cotton print upon which it is embroidered.
JBS
1) Fitz Gibbon, Kate & Andrew Hale, “The Bad Beys of Central Asia,” Hali
75, June-July 1994, p. 70
2) Ibid, fig. 19, p. 79
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