Among Zoroastrian burial items, there is a camel-shaped zoomorphic OSTADON lying there. It was found…
The main centers of Khorezm ceramics are the village of Madyr and the settlement of Kattabog near Khiva.
Khorezm ceramics are recognizable by particular features of their shapes and decorations. Especially common are badiya – large plates with upright edges. Another common product is the so-called guppi container, in which butter is made from milk. In view of its intended use it is not embellished with any decoration.
The decorative motifs used on Khorezm ceramics are relatively limited. First and foremost are geometric and vegetative ornaments. Animal or human-shaped designs appear only rarely. The most important of the geometric ornaments is the girih pattern, which consists of triangular and rectangular elements as well as numerous round medallions and rosettes. The main vegetative ornaments are vines and shoots, rare flowers and fruits. The objects primarily depicted are knives, rifles, musical instruments and combs. As for animal motifs, the most common ones are a bird’s beak, bull horns, fish and snakes. The forms of these designs are not recognizably realistic but mainly appear as elements of a pattern, their look approximating geometric figures.
Ceramics from the villages of Madyr and Kattabog are colored blue or turquoise-blue, though some show more unusual shades. Today the ceramic masters of the Khorezm school employ only one – the kalami brush technique. You can find it in the collection of the Saxonian State Collections of Ethnography (SES) in Germany.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Collections of the Federal Republic of Germany" (volume XI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
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