Uzbek jewellery: an art that carries traditions across generations
Uzbek costume jewellery is a distinctive world of vivid colours and graceful forms permeated by
This little cap seems to have reached us from the depths of time. It is said that Islam influenced the custom of wearing a tubeteika by discouraging adult Muslims from leaving home with an uncovered head. The cap was convenient: unfold it and place it on the head, fold it and tuck it into a sash.
Beyond its practical purpose, the tubeteika has always decorated the costume. Women’s pursuit of beauty and perfection elevated their work from craft to art.
Historically, the tubeteika developed from a pointed cap worn beneath a turban. The Russian word tubeteika came from the Tatar tübätä, derived from tübe, meaning top or summit. In Uzbek, these caps are called doppi or qalpoq. By the nineteenth century, the tubeteika had become widespread, and many forms had developed: pointed, conical, hemispherical, four-sided, round and domed—every shape suggested by local custom and the imagination of the craftswoman. The wealth and variety of colours, ornaments and embroidery techniques are so great that any complete list of tubeteika decoration would be difficult.
Black satin or velvet was most often chosen for men’s tubeteikas. Women’s caps are made from silk, velvet, or brocade. They may have a high or low rim, be edged with plain or multicoloured fabric, and be embroidered with silk, beads, gold thread, bugle beads, or metal details.
The variety of tubeteika shapes and textures is remarkable. There are caps for men and women, children and elders. To an unfamiliar eye, the differences may seem minor, but a connoisseur immediately recognises the intended wearer and would never put on a headdress belonging to another category.
The most widespread men’s Chust tubeteika from the Fergana Valley has a strict, modest yet highly decorative appearance. It is characterised by a strong contrast between the black background and a white pattern of four kalampir pepper pods. According to tradition, four flowers on the top protect a man’s health from all four directions. Sixteen patterned arches arranged along the edge express the wish for a large, close family with sixteen children. Traditionally, no man would enter a mosque or attend a wedding or funeral without such a cap.
The caps differ according to their place of origin. Including the men’s Chust tubeteika of the Fergana Valley, there are six historically established regional groups: Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya and Khorezm. Each area developed its own style, passed from mother to daughter through the generations. Every craftswoman enriches traditional ornamental motifs with her own imagination. The ornament of embroidered works developed gradually, from ritual magical patterns to poetic images, and is distinguished by varied forms and a high degree of stylisation.
The craftswomen’s works are rich in folk symbolism. Most compositions feature bushes covered with flowers, circles, rosettes, flower heads on slender stems and leafy shoots. Images of brightly feathered animals and birds are sometimes woven into the plant patterns. As a rule, the artists depicted plants believed in folk tradition to possess healing power. Tubeteika, or doppi caps, are embroidered in silk satin stitch, small iroqi cross-stitches, a special basma stitch and beads. Experienced craftswomen often work without a preliminary drawing, composing the pattern directly as they embroider.
The gilam-duppi of Shakhrisabz and the piltaduzi caps of Surkhandarya, embroidered in a continuous iroqi stitch, are known for their vivid range of colours. Even today, a young Uzbek woman’s outfit is often completed by a bright festive tubeteika. In Tashkent, men’s shobpush caps are popular; they are made from lined cotton fabric and quilted by hand or sewing machine.
A distinctive variety of tubeteika is the Bukhara gold-embroidered cap. It is usually round or four-sided and decorated with floral or geometric ornament, fringe and elegant tassels. Gold embroidery gives it vivid colour and a ceremonial appearance. It is therefore no surprise that gold-embroidered tubeteikas were an essential part of the emir’s and court nobility’s costume, while today they remain a required element of wedding dress. Interestingly, gold embroidery was still mainly a male craft at the beginning of the twentieth century; only gradually did women take it into their own hands.
The Uzbek tubeteika is rightly regarded as a national form of applied art and an inseparable part of folk costume. The craft reached its height from the late nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, when tubeteikas became widespread in everyday life and were made everywhere, from major cities to remote villages. The skill of their production, developed over a long history of folk creativity, is marked by deep emotional expression, a love of ornamental imagination and a high artistic culture.
The tubeteikas of Uzbekistan are deservedly known around the world. Made by highly skilled women, they appear in many museum collections. The finest and most complete collections are held in Tashkent by the state museums of history, fine arts, and applied arts of Uzbekistan.
The old saying that a man’s honour and conscience reside in his tubeteika is still remembered today.
Uzbek costume jewellery is a distinctive world of vivid colours and graceful forms permeated by
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