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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2008.89
Title
Qizil Kimishek (red head veil)
Classification
Textile Arts
Work Type
costume
Date
c. 1900
Places
Creation Place: Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Culture
Uzbek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/326290

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Combined textiles: ikat (probably Khiva, silk warp and cotton weft); broadcloth (Russia or Britain, wool, with silk thread embroidery in chain stitch); printed cottons (Bukhara and Russia) and pattern-woven cottons.
Technique
Ikat
Dimensions
146 x 135 cm (57 1/2 x 58 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Jeffrey Spurr, Cambridge, Mass., acquired the kimishek from the Tashkent-based dealer German Abramov in 2005.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Jeffrey B. Spurr in memory of Craigen Bowen
Accession Year
2008
Object Number
2008.89
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This garment is a fine example of a qizil kimishek (red head veil), a distinctive and exuberant garment from the Karakalpak people of western Uzbekistan. Made by girls as part of their dowry, the qizil kimishek was the most important part of a bridal costume. A Karakalpak woman continued to wear her qizil kimishek until the end of her child-bearing years, but only for special occasions. Qizil means red, and the word is employed in the name of the garment to distinguish it from the aq kimishek, or white kimishek. The latter was a less ostentatious garment worn by older women.

The kimishek is an integral garment, consisting of an embroidered triangular front (aldi), a small head cap, and a diamond-shaped shawl (quyril, meaning "tail") at the back. It was constructed from three different types of fabric, which, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were expensive luxuries that could only be obtained from merchants in big towns. None of these fabrics was produced locally by the Karakalpaks.

On this qizil kimishek, the shawl is constructed of a brilliant ikat textile probably woven in Khiva. As is traditional for qizil kimisheks, the ikat is woven with cotton wefts that produce the ribbed texture and also provide the strength necessary to carry the weight of the decorative borders that edge the shawl. This blue-wefted ikat is particularly fine: it features seven colors, and its vibrant ogival lattice pattern is finely articulated through the use of narrow dye bundles.

As is customary, the triangular front section of this qizil kimishek features a rectangle of black broadcloth (qara orta), which is filled with embroidery. The pattern embroidered in chain stitch with red, green, yellow, and white silk threads is the 'merged' version of the eight horns pattern (segiz mu'iz). On admittedly slender grounds, the eight horns pattern is associated with Karakalpak living in the northern region of the Amu Darya delta.

--Mary McWilliams, 2008

Exhibition History

  • Unusual and Overlooked: Antique Textiles from Central Asia, Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, 04/21/2006 - 04/23/2006
  • Re-View: S231 (Islamic rotation: 1) Color in the Oasis, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/30/2008 - 03/29/2009

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu