This suzani features a fragment of a fully embroidered dowery piece, with quilted end details, backed in Czech cotton, edge bound in black cotton. The featured fragment is a remarkable example of embroidery skills, featuring vibrant colors of ebony, burgundy, magenta, pink & canary yellow.

Suzani, named after the Persian word for “needle”—were used as bedcovers, prayer mats, rugs in yurts, and blankets to wrap goods for moving. For centuries, women stitched together long strips of cotton and embellished them to form blanket-sized panels that became the workhorses of nomadic households in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian countries.

Because suzanis were so fundamental to a home, girls worked from a young age with their mothers to craft them for their trousseaus. Often an especially beautiful suzani was chosen as a wedding canopy to protect the newlyweds during their first forty days of marriage, when lore had it the couple was especially vulnerable to the evil eye.

29” W x 54” L