Making items, ornament and trades

The ornamental art of Central Asia has long been famous. Naqsh is an Arabic word meaning image or flower: it is a decoration formed by repeating, in a certain order, shapes drawn after plants, birds and animals in nature. Ornaments are made in plaster carving, metal engraving, embroidery, gold embroidery, pottery, jewellery, carpet weaving and wood: by carving, drawing, stitching, hammering and other methods. By structure, ornaments are islimiy or girih. An islimiy ornament comes from repeating, by a rule, the stylised shape of leaves, stems, trees, buds, birds, fish and the like. Girih is a geometric ornament, meaning “knot, tangle”; it is made of rectangles, triangles, circles, arcs and polygons and is a complex type. Drawing a girih is easier from a sample.