The many faces of tuskiiz: On the iconography of the Kazakh embroidered carpet

The study of Kazakh traditional embroidered wall rug tuskiiz in the aspect of visualism of the sacred is relevant not only from the position of developing new methodological tasks of visual research, but also from the point of view of clarifying the ornamental nature of embroidery as a graphic element of the semiosphere of this ancient product. Since the peculiarity of this traditional carpet is its functionality as a direct attribute and sign of sacredness of the elements of the Kazakh socio-cultural space, the task of studying the ways and means of their coding was actualised. In the process of the analysis, it was revealed that tuskiiz as a wall carpet in the yurt of Kazakhs, being located on the sacredly marked place assigned to it, was and remains an echo and trace of the most ancient cult spaces of almost all peoples of Central Asia. The tuskiiz discovered by the authors in private collections, produced by the Kazakhs of Mongolia, who have preserved traditional forms of craftsmanship, opened new opportunities to consider the ornamental and motif series of the embroidered carpet. As a result of this analysis, the symbolically signified meanings of tuskiiz pictorial motifs – tabaksha (dish), zhuldyz (star), koz (eye), which have their mytho-ritual origins, were revealed. The analysis of the composition of the ornamental pattern of Kazakh tuskiiz revealed unique ways of coding the space of Kazakh traditional society and their informative content. Certain types of tuskiiz in their ornamental solutions represent a plan of arrangement of settlements or seating of those present at this or that khan's forum. The symbolism of tuskiiz colouristics and its visual semantics connected with the understanding of its traditional symbolic meaning are considered. The colouristics of the carpet, at times, conveys its performing a certain socially significant function. The search for an answer to the question of embroidery on the carpet and its origins has shown that in its ornamentation the common Turkic, Turkic-Mongolian, as well as Persian motifs in its compositional, colouristic, ornamental solutions goes back to the traditional world picture of the Kazakhs. This study of tuskiiz opens the prospect of further visual research in the aspect of cross-cultural studies of carpet ornament traditions, techniques of execution and other aspects of the language of textile products in general.

tuskiіz, traditional textile, embroidery, iconography, artistic text, structure, composition, colour