Listen to a verbal description of the object intended for someone with low to no vision, or anyone looking for a closer look at the object.

Transcript:

This garment is a Munisak, spelled M U N I S A K which means women’s robe in the Uzbek language. The robe was made in Uzbekistan, dates from the late 19th century and is made of silk velvet and cotton. When worn by a woman of average height, the coat would hang mid-calf with wide sleeves tapering towards the wrists and the form-fitting waist giving way to a flared bottom. The coat is hung on the wall on a t-shaped frame with the long sleeves stretched straight out to either side. Let’s talk first about the patterns on this garment. The fabric incorporates bold, brightly colored, and rather complex patterns and motifs. In terms of color, cherry red, sun gold, cream-white and cool green dominate the composition with smaller details in royal purple and sky blue. The patterns and motifs reflect Uzbekistan's history of incorporating abstracted jewelry and nature forms into the weaving process - for example, amulets, ram's horns, pomegranates, and tulips. Now let’s talk about some of the patterning in more detail. In the center of the garment, a vertical band of patterning a few inches wide is white with alternating patterns of red dots, pairs of circles and ovals edged in green. To either side of the white band, a slightly wider band shows simplified white floral motifs with red centers on a dark green ground. Prominent amongst the patterns is a broad medallion shape roughly a foot high and slightly wider, found in a few places on the garment. Right at the waist, on the sleeve to our left and at the bottom edge of the coat. These medallion motifs have thick white borders punctuated with closely and evenly spaced red dots; and on the inside, a bright red ground with four symmetrically placed gold ovals - top, bottom, left and right - each inscribed with a blue cross with arms of equal length. Other abstract forms are also included in all of the patterns described here, adding to the almost dizzying visual richness of the fabric and overall design for this coat. The material of the coat is a soft, silky velvet. Made for wedding dowries with fabric from the groom’s family, women wore munisaks for rites of passage throughout their lives, as a bride, at funerals, and family festivals.