Central Asian ornamental ganch carving art
Unique and diverse, Ganch carving is one of the most ancient arts of Uzbekistan and Central Asia. It represents a unique school in terms of artistic style and specific technical performance. According to V.V. Stasov, “This is the purest Central Asia itself, which can not be compared with anything else from everything known in the world in terms of drawing and artistic forms.”

Indeed, ganch carving in the hands of a skillful master becomes a work of art. Vegetable and geometric motifs prevailed in the ornamental structure of the art of carving on ganch. Perhaps, to this day, the Central Asian variety of gypsum – ganch would only serve as plaster for the walls and bonding material in the brickwork, if not the Uzbek masters creating ganch art since ancient times. As the Eastern wisdom says – it is not material that makes a thing priceless, but the skillful hands of a master.

Ornamental art of carving on ganch reached its heyday in the XVIII-XIX centuries. During this period, craftsmen decorated with magnificent carved ganch the walls of mosques and the rich houses of the nobility. But the common people also tried to decorate their homes. Of course, the carved decor in simple houses was more modest and even naive in its designs.

Central Asian ornamental ganch carving art

Most often masters decorated with intricate carvings the walls of the living rooms and terraces. In particular, the niches in the wall, where people stored the bed linen, or niches for dishes. Besides, they decorated the doors of the niches in the form of ornamental lattices. Built over the door and windows ornamental grilles of the Uzbek dwelling, were often cast from ganch. Through them fresh air and additional light came into the room.

A special place in the ganch decor, occupies color development. Depending on the grade of ganch, the ratio of various impurities, the products from ganch acquired shades from light gray to slightly yellowish. Noteworthy, in the late XIX – early XX centuries craftsmen widely used colors from karma or gaspak. They achieved the artistic effect by clear drawings of colored plaster.

In the 1990s, ganch carving remained one of the leading types of folk arts and crafts in Uzbekistan. Moreover, its role in the design of architectural structures is increasing. The main centers for ganch carving are Khiva, Bukhara, Tashkent, Samarkand, Andijan, Namangan, and Kokand.

Central Asian ornamental ganch carving art

Nowadays, carved ganch in Uzbekistan finds the widest application as architectural decoration in the construction of residential houses, theater clubs, the Palace of Culture and other public buildings.

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