www.sairamtour.com While traveling round Uzbekistan it is unlikely that one can meet a traditional Uzbek house without wooden decorations. Since ancient times wood has been highly valued and respected by the local craftsmen who have demonstrated genuine mastery of wood carving.
Patterned wood carvings often cover architectural elements – pillars, beams, cornices, doors, as well as smaller objects, such as low khantakhta tables, trunks, boxes, Koran stands, book-holders, kalamdon pencil-cases, musical instruments.
The few extant samples of the ancient wood carving impress us with their beauty and perfection of execution. Among those of the ancient Sogdian wood carvings which testify to the high skills of ancient masters are the fragments from the ruins of the sixth-century Jumalaktepa castle, and the wooden panel found in the area of the upper Zarafshan River. The latter depicts a two-headed snake surrounded by a regular wavy pattern. As a matter of fact, in Uzbekistan images of various creatures had been carved on wood till the 10th century, even after the Arabian invasion. It was only in the later period that they were fully replaced by geometric and floral patterns.
During the excavations near Kusam ibn Abbas mausoleum in Shakhi-Zinda necropolis archeologists found a fragment of a splendidly carved epigraphic frieze dating back to the 11th century. Several centuries later, in Temur's times, wood carving and other crafts reached the level of a real art. In the 14th century Kusam ibn Abbas burial vault was decorated with a beautiful panel containing the geometric pattern girih made of separate wooden elements; in Saifeddin Boharzi's mausoleum in Bukhara there was set up a fretted cenotaph. The fretted doors of the Gur Emir mausoleum are apparently the most wonderful wood carving sample of those times. At the end of the 19th century the Russian artist V. Vereschagin was so impressed by the splendor of these doors that he depicted them in his famous picture "The Doors of Tamerlane".
At all times cities and villages of Khorezm and Ferghana Valley were renowned for their skillful wood-carvers. Masters from Bukhara and Gijduvan had the reputation of "universal carvers". Carvings made in Tashkent, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz and Vabkent were also in great demand. The main styles of Uzbek wood carving had developed by the late 18th – early 19th centuries.
The three main ornamenental styles are distinguished in Uzbek wood carving: bagdadi, islimi and pargori. The no-background bagdadi style is the most commonly used everywhere in Uzbekistan. It is usually a three-edge-cut pattern forming various simple geometric figures. This carving style is especially popular in Tashkent and Khiva. It was called after an ancient type of framed doors. Bagdadi usually appears in stripes framing different-style compositions on doors, khantakhta tables, or trunks. Sketches for bagdadi patterns are drawn right on the material to be carved on.
The low-relief pargori style is used in Tashkent and Kokand. Its name is derived from the word pargor meaning 'a pair of compasses'. Masters uimakors first draw sketches for pargori patterns on the wooden work-piece with the help of a ruler and a pair of compasses and then start to carve them out. The sketches are geometric nets consisting of circles, squares and triangles, on which thin lacy patterns are drawn. Low-relief, clear-cut and intricate, this carving presents an amazing chiaroscuro effect.
The deep-background islimi style has richer artistic qualities than no-background one does. It is used in decoration of both architectural elements and smaller objects, usually in combination with bagdadi and pargori. As a rule, islimi style has one background, though experienced carvers sometimes make two- or three-plane carving when the pattern of the second layer becomes a background to the upper one. The prevailing patterns in islimi style are twisting, regularly intertwined plant vines, stalks with flower buds, flowers and leaves – all very intricately combined. Sketches for islimi patterns are first drawn on a piece of paper and then copied on the work-piece by pouncing. The art of the master then lies in creating the proper background and revealing the natural beauty of the wood. The flat surface of islimi relief and its deep background are finished by applying a set of techniques called pardoz: the edges of the relief are made a little curved or right-angled; its surface is either polished or covered with diagonal notches; the background is left plain or is made dot-textured, thus creating the patterned basis for the ornament. In each region of Uzbekistan they use their own pardoz techniques. | 
