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In the second half of the 19 th century the weaving of Uzbekistan was the most developed field of handicrafts. Bukhara, Namangan, Margilan, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz, Kitab, Karshi, Khojent, Urgut and Khiva were famous with their textiles. Cotton textiles such as kalami, alocha, susi and chit; semi-silk textiles such as bekasab, banoras, pasma, adras, duruya, yakruya, atlas and bakhmal; silk textiles such as shoiy, atlas and khan-atlas were most popular. The most simple interweaving like linen and reps were used in these textiles except atlas and velvet (bakhmal). Woolen textiles were also manufactured for coats.
Among the variety of textiles a notable place belongs to semi-silk Bukhara and Kokand velvet, Samarkand and Fergana coverlets and the finest transparent silk shawls “kalgai”.
Most of the above-mentioned textiles were ornamented by stripes or abre design. The most interesting was the design of abre silk, semi-silk and much rarer, cotton textiles. “Abrebandi” method meant the reservation of separate parts of the warp by means of weaving again with the next dying according to the pattern and coloring. This method created an interesting decorative effect as the design assumed indistinct shapes. The design of the abre textiles was the whimsical arrow-shaped broad patterns of the rainbow. The compositions the abre design were diverse.
The geometric, vegetable and object motifs – ovals, bushes, trees and stylized images of jewelry are combined in the ornament. The coloring of the textiles varied from two-color to multi-color. Despite the slow common development of the decorative crafts in the 19 th century, the aesthetic changes caused by historical processes brought about the appearance of new style features in the applied arts.
The striped textiles with designs created by the color warp threads like in abre textiles continued to be popular. The skill of warpers achieved high perfection. They manufactured interesting textiles with artistic meaning by a comparatively simple method. They created textiles for different purposes and emotional expressiveness, from cotton kalami for the outer-clothes of the poor to the smart clothes of the rich varying only colors and the size of the stripes.
Manufacture of cotton textiles was mass production. The researchers of handicrafts of the end of thethe 19 th century described dozens of kinds of local cotton textiles: mata, khosa, booz, kalami, janda, astarchey, susi and alacha; with variants damkhaba, misri, chapanahi and others. However, in the first half of the 19 th century this outwardly prospering craft tended to decline because of unequal competition of manual and machine production. Industrial cotton, silk and brocade textiles technically more perfect with rather skillfully imitated designs of eastern textiles flooded the markets of Central Asia and excluded Uzbek cotton textiles from the market. The manufacture of kimhob and bahmal died irrevocably. Only local silk and semi-silk textiles ornamented with stripes and abre ornaments have withstood the competition.
In the 1870s 1550 weavers worked in Tashkent. Weaving was one of the main handicrafts in the cities of Fergana Valley - Margilan, Namangan, Kokand and Khodjent. Around 600 silk-weaving workshops were in Margilan, Namangan and Kokand in 1896. In 1910 1387 silk-weaving handicrafts workshops with 3165 workers worked in Fergana region including 911 workshops with 2570 workers in Margilan. There were around 40 silk-weaving looms in Khiva, about 20 in Khanki, 10 – in Durgadik. Semi-silk textiles were only manufactured in Durgadik. There were 237 silk-weaving workshops in 1912 in Samarkand region, in 1916 – 46 ones in Bukhara and 16 - in Karshi.
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Manufacture of many kinds of traditional Uzbek textiles was revived in handicraft workshops and then in small enterprises and weaving-mills at the beginning of the 20 th century. The lack of industrial textiles promoted an increasing in manufacture of handicraft cotton textiles in the 1920s. Manufacture of textiles with their established traditions of weaving underwent significant changes in Uzbekistan. The simple textiles with linen interweaving such as kalami, sarpinka, astarchit and alocha were again manufactured. Traditional designs and coloring of the textiles and their local originality were preserved. The centers for manufacture of cotton textiles were Samarkand, Urgut, Nurata, the villages of Gijduvan, Vardanzi, Zandona in Bukhara region, Namangan and Besh-Arik in Fergana Valley.
Fergana dress textiles turned out to be closer to the aesthetic requirements of that time, being more moderate than the Bukhara style. Originality of design was created by using small and large ornamental motifs. As for Bukhara silk textiles they were meant for formal style and fell out of use. The tradition of Bukhara silk-weaving with its enlarged laconic motifs was developed to a considerable extent in decoration of interior textiles like silk coverlets and textiles for blankets.
Traditional decorative methods were elaborated according to the conditions. The changes of compositions of an ornament, its coloring and rhythm were defined by aesthetic requirements. But they were also influenced by other things. Thus, the technical improvements which allowed an increase in the width of the cloth influenced the composition and proportions of the patterns. Multi-striped ornamental compositions became possible. Their appearance made abre textiles the main style of women's textiles.
Of the earlier existing two methods of design treatment, one had a clear ornamental form and the other had a more abstract ornament with an outline. The latter was more popular in the 1920-1930s. The abre textiles with the design of “chamandagul” (flowers on a meadow), “kichik” (tickling) and a number of others were composed of stretched color spots. Such solutions were the most popular decoration of abre textiles of those years. More clear forms with smooth outlines were observed. The motif was broken up by color, and plain stripes and pattern lines were interrupted. The ornament was influenced by industrial textiles with complicated motifs from the first half of the 19 th century.
The design of the cloth with slightly marked shapes of the ornament turned into a play of color spots. When composing the designs of textiles the masters used various motifs both inherited and newly created. They also pictured the usual things such as “patnis-nusha” (design in the form of a tray), “at-tuyak” (horse's hoof) and “bargi-karam” (cabbage leaves).Very often the name of a design was accompanied with the word “tadbil” – “substitution”, that is a new variant of the design.
Manufacture of beqasams, banorases and other striped semi-silk textiles which preserve the local originality in coloring and rhythm, has been reviving in the old centers.
A wide network of handicrafts cooperation which united local craftsmen of all specialties was organized in the Republic in the 1930s.
Uzbektextilpromkhoz, a specialized textile union with the enterprises for manufacture of cotton, semi-silk and silk textiles was formed in 1938.
Since the 1930s industrial enterprises started to operate in Tashkent, Samarkand and Margilan, and a network of small crafts enterprises began to be curtailed gradually. Hand-made manufacture of cotton, plain semi-silk and silk textiles was curtailed. The artels of Textilpromsoyuz began to manufacture only bekasab, shoiy and atlas textiles.
After liquidation of the crafts cooperatives in 1960 the manufacture of traditional textiles was transferred to the enterprises of state industry. The unique technique for the ornamentation of the abre and striped textiles which required manual labor led to the formation of special enterprises such as “Atlas” silk-weaving production association in Margilan and silk-weaving factories (all three enterprises were under Ministry of Light Industry) in Namanghan and Kokand.
Since 1976 small weaving handicraft enterprises have been revived by the Ministry of Local Industry for the manufacture of khan-atlas in Margilan and Shakhrisyabs, for the manufacture of atlas and bekasab of artificial silk in Kitab and Urgench and of janda in Baysun.
The most highly artistic textiles are called “gift textiles”. The designs of abre textiles such as “Kremlin”, “Guli Namozshom” and “Shahmat” are part of the golden fund of Uzbek textile design; they were created before 1960, that is before transfer of the weaving to the system of the artistic industry. Creative activity of masters was reduced at the enterprises of the Ministry of Light Industry. The main attention was paid to mechanization and automation of the process of cloth manufacture. As a result these enterprises stopped manufacturing bekasabs with wide stripes, adras and shokh textiles. They minimized production of national silk and semi-silk textiles, 4 and 8 stripe fine abre atlas cloth.
Due to revival of traditional customs and celebrations, and increased interest in national textiles in the 1990s, the demand for the decorative silk hand-made textiles also increased.
The manufacture of hand-made silk textiles began to revive in different regions of Uzbekistan particularly in the cities of Fergana Valley, Margilan and Kokand.
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