Ivory Suzani Cushion Cover with Pomegranate Tree

A tree branches across an ivory ground, carrying pomegranates in red, blue and orange with long feathered leaves between them. The tree of life is the central image of the dowry cloth, and it is unusual to find a whole one that fits inside a cushion square.

Product details

• Product type: suzani cushion cover — cover only, insert not included
• Hand-embroidered in silk on a cotton ground: basma couching for the solid shapes, yurma chain stitch for the outlines and vines
• Size: 50 × 50 cm (20 × 20 in); fit a 55 cm insert for a full cushion
• Closure: concealed zip across the back
• Backing: plain handwoven ikat, usually beige, so the zip never crosses the embroidery
• Main colours: ivory with red, blue, orange and green
• Motif: a branching tree carrying pomegranates of three colours
• One of a kind: cut from a single suzani, so no two covers are the same
• Care: Remove the insert. Dry-clean by preference; a separate cool machine wash in a bag with no spin is allowed. Press on the reverse over a towel and keep it out of direct sun

Where it goes

The most storyteller-ish cover here and the best of them on a pale sofa, where the ivory ground disappears into the upholstery. See the rest of the suzani cushion covers, the whole suzani panels they are cut from, or a plain ikat cushion cover to sit beside it.

How this suzani is made

A suzani is a dowry cloth: cotton strips laid out, the design drawn on in ink, then embroidered in silk by several women of one household and joined up at the end. The filling is basma, a laid-and-couched stitch that lets the silk sit flat and catch the light; the outlines and vines are yurma chain stitch. A cushion is cut from such a cloth so that one whole motif sits square in the panel, and sewn up in our workshop in Bukhara.

Availability

This cover is sold. Each one is cut from a different suzani, so this exact panel cannot be repeated — but we cut new covers from other embroidered cloth all the time. Tell us what you are after and we will send photographs of what is on the table.