Ceramics of Uzbekistan
I’m quite partial to acquiring the odd knick knack when I travel. Some of my favourite items have come from that ancient Silk Road shopping mecca well known for its craftsmanship: Uzbekistan.
Since 1000BC the great Silk Road has threaded its way across ancient trading routes, connecting East Asia to the Mediterranean. All manner of goods were traded along these routes including textiles, animals, precious stones, and metals but it was the Islamic conquests that created ‘...A place where order prevailed, where merchants could become rich, where intellectuals were respected and where disparate views could be discussed and debated.’ Extract from Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World.
Modern day Uzbekistan sits at the apex of those routes in Central Asia and the country continues to nurture artistic skills that have been going since millennia. It's 1st September today - Independence Day in Uzbekistan, and there will be celebrations with fireworks, parades and ceremonies. So, it's apt that I’m wrapped up in a favourite teal blue scarf from the Ferghana Valley – the centre of silk production in Uzbekistan. Silky and slubby, the scarf has soft tassels at the end and reminds me of the blue tiles on the mosque domes in Samarkand – the sort of colour that make your eyes begin to ache after spending a day gazing upon them.
I can’t resist a blue - green glaze and plenty a pretty piece decorates my walls at home from three good ceramicsts in Uzbekistan. I was first introduced to Rakhimov’s ceramics studio in Tashkent ten years ago and it’s become a firm fixture on my tours. The studio is located in the old part of the city - a small area with some pretty tree lined streets and a few architectural inklings still in place that hark back to pre-Soviet times. The studio sits opposite the private residence and around a central courtyard with pretty pomegranate trees and a little stream where Mr Rakhimov draws much of his inspiration from - the pomegranate is often featured on his ceramics. Much of his work is aimed at reviving old Uzbekistan traditions in ceramics from the blue and white colours of the Timurids to the medieval style of pottery from Afrosiyab (now Samarkand). Now his son Alisher has taken over teaching young students and scholars in preserving old traditions and introducing new styles that have been exhibited world wide.
With the introduction of new train routes via the smart Afrosiyob train, the route from Samarkand to Bukhara by road is now often overlooked which is a pity as you might then miss out on the little town of Gijduvan and the ceramic school of Alisher Narzullaev. Olimjon heads up the seventh generation of ceramicists at the family workshop and exhibition centre, where traditional methods of processing are still observed; herbs for producing the glaze are grinded in their own donkey driven mill and you can see the baking ovens and furnace. What makes these ceramics unique is a clay paint known as englob extracted and collected from different locations around the country. Yellow is taken from the Kyzl Kum desert, and red from a mountain in the Nurata range. Unlike the highly patterned detail of much of the blue green ceramics of Samarkand and the Ferghana Valley, the pottery produced in Gidjuvan is rustic and more earthy in colour.
My favourite ceramics come from Rishtan in the Ferghana Valley and particularly the workshop of Rustam Uzmanov, renowned for his use of a rich blue on his plates, bowls and vases. You can watch his students at work throwing pots and painting tiles before selecting a piece from tables weighed down in aquamarine and turquoise ceramics. The only difficulty you’ll have is choosing.
