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JEWELRY.
In the context of getting fire an ancient man learned to subordinate hard materials to himself: iron, copper, gold, silver. The skills and experience accumulated for years enabled craftsmen to make domestic wares for their needs. The saved monuments of material culture testify that ornamental metal working was significantly developed on the dawn of the Central Asian civilization. Ancient craftsmen could make sculptures of man (idol, tsar, god, demigod), animals (bull, cow, mountain goat), jewelry wares, architectural details (frame, door, gate, grate), artificial trees with leaves and fruits from metal (gold, silver, copper, bronze). Therefore ornamental treatment of metal (gold, silver, bronze, copper, steel) is an ancient genre of decorative applied art. Hardwares were used by farmers, craftsmen, professional artists, architects, warriors, astronomers.
Liquid gold was used for decoration of the miniature painting of legendary artist Mani. Plates of leaf gold decorated wooden columns of palace Tahti-Sangin in Kubadian. Gold filaments drawers were of great authority among specialists of art ornamental embroidery. Jewellers created artificial trees of gold, silver, copper, bronze decorating them with leaves, branches, fruits and birds made of precious and semi-precious stone. Moreover, even thrones, doors and grates were made of silver and gold. There is reliable information that jewellers created fruit trees (peach, pear, pomegranate, nut, almond, pistachio) of pure gold and filled with them trays, decorated tables, and if necessary presented them to guests. Such metals as copper and bronze were widely used for production of such handicraft wares as large boilers, copper lanterns, jugs, trays, candlesticks, pencil-cases. They were decorated mainly by metal stamping. Sometimes there was used encrustation made by silver, precious stones, stained glass, enamel painting. For example a bronze censer (XI century) from ancient settlement Hulbak was executed as a figure of lion or tiger. Through and stamped ornamentation gave the stylized image of a predator a special attractiveness. In the places of dense residence of Tajiks in Central Asian region, particularly in Bukhara, Samarkand, Penjikent, Hujand, Istravshan, Kulyab, Gissar, Kubadian, there were saved old toponims of settlements and quarters and also market rows related to this or that handicraft industry. Among them are often met the terms related to jewelry art - zargar. Villages "Zargar" still exist near cities Kurgan-Tyube and Kofarnigan. The word ⌠Zargar■ was always added to the names of the famous jewellers. For example, Mirusmon Zargar (Hujand) was the known jewelry master on decoration of belts, Abdal-al-Vali Zargar was considered a specialist on decoration of child's cradles. Mullo Otaboy Mirboki Zargar and Mullo Hudoyori Istaravshani were famous among Istaravshan jewellers. The latter governedmanaged the mint of Kokand Khanate.
To produce jewelry wares (small table, throne, bowl, knives, finger-ring, bangle, censer, riton, pendant, ring, seal, pectorals, ear-rings, wine-glass and etc.) the folk craftsmen used precious metals and stone, ebony tree, ivory, horns of rhinoceros, mountain crystal, enamel, mother of pearl, pearls, coral, niello, shells, glass, varnish. But precious stones were mostly used in jewelry art.
Women▓s decorations mainly made of silver in XIX-XX centuries were the traditional jewelry decorations of Tajikistan: ear-rings, rings, bangles, necklaces, pendants for plaits and shawls, finger-rings with turquoise (sometimes used a glass of amber, crimson, blue and white colors). In Kulyab women preferred delicate ear-rings with hanging decorative pendants. For Tajik women of Karategin and Darvaz the number of pendants reached three, five and even seven.
There was also another type of pectorals. It included a many-tier pendant with age-old coins, wolf or bear dog-tooth, beads made of shells, triangular amulet, little wooden bobs, cosmetic tools (for cleaning eyebrows, teeth, ears). Diamond-shaped plates were hung on them. The set of women▓s decorations of North Tajikistan consisted of ear-rings, beads, kokoshnik, forehead cover, clips, amulets, pectorals, attributes of plaits.
Jewelry wares had not only decorative but also utilitarian function. So, for example, decorations made of pure gold were recommended to be worn by children against frights and heart diseases. As for triangular, rectangular or cylindrical talismans they kept Arabic texts against charms, divination, incantations and spoilage. Jewelry wares, especially ancient ones, are still the integral part of dresses of Tajik women. The whole sets of women▓s decorations are put on for wedding or holidays. In Bukhara, Samarkand, Nurat women preferred jewelry wares made of the alloy of gold and silver.
In the jewelry art of Tajikistan there is demonstrated a special language for expressing aesthetic concepts, social and geographical belonging, magic symbols. At the same time every decoration is the masterpiece of folk craft and is a component part of national dress being an integral part of it. Gold, silver, alloys, Badahshan lal, emerald, garnet and such cheap stones as turquoise, carnelian, corals and special glass, served as material for Tajik jewellers. Technique: niello, gold seeded into enamel, engraving, stamping, forging, polishing of stones. North Tajikistan mostly used gold, South - silver. In Tajikistan there are specially distinguished such types of decorations as marjon - a necklace with corals and silver coins (tanga) or filaments in them located in 2-3 rows clamped by special large beads or clamps with a round or diamond-shaped medallion in the center. The most favourite necklaces with one or more rows of small leaves, large brooches, ear-rings with pendants reaching shoulders, bangles, rings with infundibular rasters.
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