The Origins of Ganch Compositions With Oynavand-O’uma in the Interiors of Uzbekistan and Georgia

Abstract

Ganch (fired clay ceramics with gypsum) has long been an integral part of the interior and exterior decoration for appropriate buildings to make them stand out. First of all, these are classy palaces, Buddhist traditional harem-type buildings in Western and Central Asia and other mosques, madrasas, mausoleums and minarets in some Oriental cultures associated with Islam. In particular, in the territories of Khorasan (now a part of modern Uzbekistan, was Iran, referred to as some kingdoms sort of the Bukhara emirate). The goal is to establish the origins of oynavand-o’uma, (stucco network decorations made of alumina with coloured powders and shiny pearl or mirror elements), which are genetically related to monuments in Uzbekistan and Georgia of the 5th/7th–19th centuries. The following methods were used in this study: analysis, generalisation and systematisation. The study highlighted that in the pre-Arabic period of the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Eftalites and Bukharhudates, who were simultaneously influenced by Buddhist and Greco-Byzantine cultures, the phenomenon of a local plastic canon was formed, which laid the foundation for the development of carved alabaster and plaster, which further developed without a figurative component during the Muslim era and spread to Asian lands until the time of the Turkic-Persian Qajar dynasty, reaching not only Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but also Georgia. The study also discussed the specific features of art education in the context of preserving and developing the cultural heritage of the regions. The findings of this study can be used by specialists in the field of studying the evolution of the plastic canon of monumental and decorative art of certain Eastern countries, experts in the scientific restoration and reconstruction of oriental visions of the synthesis of painting with ganch and mirrors, as well as teachers of the history of oriental culture.