{
"data": {
"id": 287526,
"accession_number": "2016.89",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Suzani with floral sprays, 1800\u20131850. Central Asia, South West Uzbekistan, Shakhrisyabz. Cotton: plain weave, 6 strips; silk: embroidery; filling stitch: kanda xajol, occasionally bosma; outlining stitch: ilmoq; overall: 227.3 x 177.8 cm (89 1/2 x 70 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of John and Fausta Eskenazi in honor of Louise W. Mackie and in celebration of the museum\u2019s centennial, 2016.89",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Suzani with floral sprays",
"creation_date": "1800\u20131850",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1850,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Central Asia, South West Uzbekistan, Shakhrisyabz"
],
"technique": "Cotton: plain weave, 6 strips; silk: embroidery; filling stitch: kanda xajol, occasionally bosma; outlining stitch: ilmoq",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Textiles",
"collection": "T - Islamic",
"type": "Embroidery",
"measurements": "Overall: 227.3 x 177.8 cm (89 1/2 x 70 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 2.273,
"height_inch": 89,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
"width": 1.778,
"width_inch": 70,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 294013,
"title": "Islamic art rotation",
"description": "Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 7, 2017-October 29, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2017-12-07T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Ignazio Vok [b. 1938], Austria and Italy",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "by 1994\u20132016",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "John and Fausta Eskenazi, London, UK, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2016",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "2016\u2013",
"sortorder": 4
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Six narrow lengths of handwoven cotton cloth were joined and then embroidered with vibrant silk thread to make this suzani.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Embroidered textiles were essential items in dowries. This type, known as a suzani after the Persian and Tajik word for needle, suzan, were created by mothers and daughters who proudly displayed them during wedding festivities and special occasions. This is an especially striking example, probably embroidered in Shakhrisyabz, located south of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, during 1800\u20131850.
Suzani were made for numerous functions including the nuptial bed, curtains for storage niches, and wrappers for various dry goods. Floral and foliate motifs generally dominate as seen here, enriched with several shades of red and enhanced by the varied light reflections and colors of the silk thread. Possibly the motifs conveyed cosmological, apotropaic, medicinal, or fertility associations especially for married life.
Patterns were drawn in black ink on several loosely joined cotton cloths by a skilled family member or a professional. The cloths were then separated, embroidered individually, and reattached, confirmed by mismatched motifs where the lengths are joined. They are generally attributed to nineteenth-century production after sericulture was introduced in the Merv area around 1800.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79870540"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2016.89-suzani-with-floral-s"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Knorr, Thomas (editor) and Sager, Helen (editor) Textilkunst Der Steppen- Und Bergvo\u0308lker Zentralasiens: Ausstellung, Gewerbemuseum Basel, 1974. Basel: s.n., 1974.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gisela Helmecke. \u201cDie \u2018Buchara\u2019-Stickereien Im Islamischen Museum Zu Berlin.\u201d Forschungen Und Berichte 23 (1983).",
"page_number": "pp. 118\u2013129",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/3880946."
},
{
"citation": "C\u030cepeleveckaja, Galina L. Susani Usbekistans: Ein Beitrag Zur Technik, Ornamentik Und Symbolik Der Usbekischen Seidenstickerei. Berlin: Schletzer, 1991.",
"page_number": "pp. 7-75, illustration 11",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Vok, Ignazio, and Jakob Taube. Suzani: a textile art from Central Asia: Vok collection. Oberhaching, Germany: Herold Verlagsauslieferung,1994.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no 19",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Mackie, Louise. \u201cAcquisition Highlights 2016: Textiles and Islamic Art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 16.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 16",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2017-02/page/n7/mode/2up"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2016.89",
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"creditline": "Gift of John and Fausta Eskenazi in honor of Louise W. Mackie and in celebration of the museum\u2019s centennial",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 287526,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2016-09-06T00:00:00-04:00",
"sortable_date": 1800,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1800\u20131850",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Embroidered Suzani with Floral Sprays"
],
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:51:54.611000"
}
}