Red & Black Uzbek Suzani Door Hanging – Tillaqosh Motif

A suzani made for a doorway, not a wall: the centre is a plain panel of red cotton, and the embroidery is concentrated in the three panels that frame it — two tall sides and a top with an arched profile — worked on black cotton in white, red and yellow silk. The repeating motif is the tillaqosh, the arched forehead ornament of Uzbek women’s jewellery, translated into thread and stacked in columns up each side, with smaller flowers and dots between. Hung over a door the red centre reads as the opening and the black surround as the frame, which is exactly how these pieces were used in Uzbek houses.

At 294 × 216 cm it is the largest suzani in the shop. The embroidery is silk thread on cotton, worked by hand in Uzbekistan.

Product details

• Product type: suzani door hanging (pardah), wall hanging
• Origin: Uzbekistan
• Condition: new
• Technique: hand embroidery, silk thread on cotton ground; plain red cotton centre panel
• Dimensions: 294 × 216 cm (116 × 85 in)
• Main colours: red centre; black surround; white, red and yellow embroidery
• Motif: tillaqosh (arched ornament) in columns, small flowers, dot borders; arched top
• Care: dry-clean recommended for a piece this size; otherwise gentle hand wash at 30 °C, dry flat, never machine wash

Character and use

Because the embroidered part is a frame, the piece needs a wall or an opening at least 2.2 m wide to show properly: a doorway with the top panel above the lintel, a wide bed wall with the centre behind the headboard, or a stair wall. It is also the only piece here that works as a room divider on a rail. The Large Suzani section has the other pieces over 2 m²; for the motif vocabulary see what symbols are hidden in suzani.

Ships from Bukhara by tracked airmail: USA 9–18 working days, Europe and the UK 8–16.