Photograph: Woman with a child (girl) in Mahallai Yahudien, the Jewish quarter in Samarkand.

Bukharian Jews

Turkestan Krai, Samarkand Oblast, city Samarkand

1902

Gelatin silver printing with chemical development (DOP)

14,2 x 9,8

РЭМ 49-26/1

The woman is wearing a silk dress. The headwear consists of a lachak, a larger kerchief whose ends are crossed under the chin and tied up behind on the neck (manner typical for the Bukharan Jews of all), and a small forehead bandana. The dress is of silk ornamented in the "batik” technique (“gulbast” in Tajik). Such fabric was made from threads obtained by dry unreeling of cocoons, so that it was very thin and light. It was the only kind of fabric that was made and ornamented by the Bukharan Jews. They wee used for women’s kerchiefs and dresses. It is believed that the art was brought by Jewish craftsmen to Central Asia from Persia.