Quatrefoil Medallion, 18th century,
111 x 66 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail)

KAITAG ART

Situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Daghestan is an inaccessible and mountainous part of the Caucasus, an autonomous region first of the Soviet Union and now of Russia, flanked by the mighty Russian and Persian empires. Kaitag art, from a small region in the south of Daghestan, is the creation of a multi-ethnic people, incorporating Zoroastrian, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and pagan symbolism. This remarkably vibrant and beautiful tradition is found mostly in the rectangular panels embroidered with vividly coloured silks that are the subject of this book. Examples are attributed to the 16th through to the 19th centuries. The geography of the region and the self-contained and inward-looking pattern of living of the Kaitag people were major factors in the confinement of such a distinct art to such a small group of villages.

 
Lakai couple beside her horizontal loom, like those used to weave the cotton ground cloths of the embroideries

 
Two women in their yard, cleaning wool on a vertical steel comb for felt to make boots, covers or ritual masks

THE DESIGNS

The vast repertoire of designs is the legacy of the history of the region and the multi-religious society that produced them. Byzantine, Fatimid, Mongolian, Timurid, Mamluk, Chinese, Ottoman and Celtic forms, many of great antiquity, combined with local animist art in a glorious diversity: hieroglyphic motifs, sun signs, birds signs, sun bursts, octagons, cosmic columns, horns, crosses, fantastic crab-like beasts, elk, reindeer, fat swordfish, dragons, amoebae-like shapes, masks and even foetuses can be identified. Many ancient talismanic symbols occur, for these panels were used in rituals associated with birth, marriage and death - to wrap cradles or as dowry covers, for example. A number of the motifs can also be found on local tombstones.

 
Elk on Red, 18th century or earlier,
120 x 78 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail)

 
Ribbed Horns on Red, 18th century,
95 x 64 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail)

THE BOOK

In his text, Robert Chenciner has skilfully combined Kaitag history, philology, ethnography, material culture and textile technology to provide a context for their rich and exciting art. To accompany the text, forty-seven outstanding Kaitag panels, representing the extraordinary variety of designs, colours and techniques which combine to create these great masterpieces, are presented on full colour plates. These also form part of a comprehensive catalogue of 171 examples, each illustrated in black and white, with a full description and technical analysis. The embroidery stitches are fully explained with diagrams, and many of the dyes have been analysed. This catalogue will doubtless serve as the definitive reference work on Kaitag art.

Three Hands, 18th century or earlier,
88 x 49 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail)

 
Zigzag, 18th century or earlier,
107 x 67 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail)

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REVIEWS

...a thoroughly researched and superbly illustrated catalogue raisonne. [Chenciner] provides the first thorough contextual survey of Kaitag and ethnography, as well as of all aspects of the embroideries themselves.
Hali, The International Magazine of Carpet and Textile Art

This is one of the most absorbing books on art published [recently]..., and the colour illustrations make the most of the staggering repertoire of patterns and colours in Kaitag art.
Cornucopia
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