Uzbeks

Tea

Caravan trade of the 16th–17th centuries: Uzbek merchants from Samarkand, Khorezm, Andijan and Bukhara used 叶尔羌 Yèěrqiāng (Yarkand) as a transshipment base and hauled 丝绸 sīchóu, 茶叶 cháyè, 瓷器 cíqì, hides and rhubarb; part of the caravans went further through 阿克苏 Ākèsū and 吐鲁番 Tǔlǔfān to 肃州 Sùzhōu (present-day Jiuquan), where goods were handed over to the interior regions. Tea traveled in bricks because that way it did not break or catch fire, and at the western end it was resold into Fergana and Bukhara. Until the mid-19th century, the vast majority of the people were engaged in trade, with caravans numbering hundreds of camels, mules and horses.

Crown growth

A tight growth-knot: a short stem looped over itself into a tightened knot of pack rope, with a clear groove from tension and frayed fiber at the end — the thing used to fasten tea bales to the camel saddle.

Headdress

朵皮 duǒpí — a stiff travel cap with no brim: square in plan, flat top, four sharp vertical ridges, along which it folds in half and tucks behind the sash on the march. Geometric ornament on the facets, ochre and indigo. A slot for the knot is in the center of the flat top. It is a work cap, a travel cap, not a prayer cap.

Outline at 6 mm. The box on the crown: a truncated four-sided pyramid, square in plan, flat top, four ridges in silhouette; it sits at the very crown and does not reach the ears — on both sides of it the skull’s own outline is visible. It differs from Anczi in having straight facets instead of a round dome; from the I people in that it is a volume with height, while the flat plate on the crown with a forward projection over the brow and the rectangular outline across the whole set are theirs; from the Uyghurs in size and fit: theirs is a deep round bucket sitting below the ears over the whole head, this one is a quarter of the size and sits only on the crown.

Clothing

Striped robe, waist sash wrapped several times, travel boots, over the shoulder — pack rope coiled in loops.

Palette

Ochre and indigo of the ornament, sun-bleached striped robe, straw-colored hemp rope, dusty boot leather.