Turquoise in silver is a quintessence of the Kazakh jewellery

Alicher AZANDAEV

If you want remember something about Kazakhstan the jewel combining turquoise and silver will be one of the optimal variants. Turquoise is a jewel of the East. The Kazakhstan jewelers and consumers have carried by love it through centuries and millennia, practically not interrupting tradition. And noble glitter of silver the native and closer on time element of life is on open spaces of Kazakhstan. Gold is metal from depths of unrecorded time, though relation to it is especially valid.

Persian believed that turquoise was formed from bones of the people who died of love. Turquoise always was a popular stone and was highly appreciated and now it is one of the first ornamental stones. The deposits of turquoise are numerous, but their stocks as a rule are insignificant, that is way the target extraction of natural raw materials manages expensively enough. The centers of extraction of turquoise are known in many ancient civilizations, and some ancient reserve operates up to that moment.

Since ancient times turquoise deposits were developed in Southern Kazakhstan. However the basic quantity of this mineral and a semiprecious stone for country territory is remains import. Similar history with red corals, which were very popular in Steppe in the middle Ages though it could not be extracted here objectively. Nishapur turquoise (heavenly blue colour) from Iran was always very popular among jewelers of Kazakhstan.

There was arising a new original and bright phenomenon in art the «animal style» since VII century BC on steppes of Siberia, Kazakhstan, Volga region and the south of Europe. The main plots in this direction were images of animals and mythical monsters. They always had hypertrophied sizes of a horn or canines, other parts of a body. These characters were always represented during run, in fight and so forth, but never in statics. The bronze coppers, the weapon, clothes and a horse harness were decorated by them.

There were widely used ornamental stones as inserts for products in Scythian «animal style», including turquoise (also a cornelian, almandine, chalcedony, agate, a nephrite, jasper). The east tribe named Usuni and ancient population of southeast areas of modern Kazakhstan very widely used inserts from turquoise (III-II centuries BC). «Animal style» was gradually generated in difficult ornamental system in III-II centuries BC, and in the beginning of our era absolutely has disappeared.

There was appear a new polychromatic style in Steppe from the countries of Forward Asia and East Mediterranean in III — V centuries of the Common Era. It is characterized by such techniques as incrustation (an insert of their precious and semiprecious stones), granulation (brazing gold balls on a basis), cloisonné (brazing a twisted delay) and other receptions. Polychromatic style has lived till our time in remarkable products of the Kazakh jewellers.

Turquoise crystals are extremely rare and not passable demand for them, deficiency of good natural raw materials, and difficulty of diagnostics has caused an abundance of fakes. If blue turquoise is estimated in $10 carat, green is three times cheaper, and chalky is $5 for kg. Long since such difference in price provoked aspiration to strengthen coloring. Egyptians were the first who has learnt to simulate turquoise. According to experts, 60 % in total of the turquoise realized on world market are made by painted turquoise. Especially it is necessary to be very attentive while purchasing such products in Kazakhstan which borders with China, delivering the lion's share of the qualitative artificial the painted turquoise.

It is theoretically possible to get jewels from places of ancient archeological excavations, but it will be a crime. Another matter is stylized jewels in imitation of XIX century. Or even real works of masters of this blossoming in the silver period of local jeweller art. The products produced by jeweller were wide: female ornaments, details for a suit, toilet soaps, tableware, plaques to dressing of a wooden skeleton of a yurt, furniture, wooden and leather ware, musical instruments, the weapon, horse equipment.

Jewelers were able to reveal beauty of metal. The silver got the shine after forge, thanks to polishing became sparkling, flickered after minting by small circles, after shading by zigzags it was perceived live and vibrating. Nobleness of metal was underlined by precious and semiprecious stones where turquoise is on one of the central places. There were also smalt, paste and colour glasses.

The main products of jewelers were female jeweler ornaments which were in great demand at all social classes that was defined not only their aesthetic nature, but also a number of the functional values connected with customs, ceremonies, with all ideologically-religious complex. Female ornaments can be subdivided on sewn to clothes and demountable: intertwined in the plaits which are put on brushes of hands, fingers, into a neck and a breast.

Among specific Kazakh ornaments it is necessary to note massive West Kazakhstan rings with шинками on two fingers it is called rings of matchmakers, such rings were given by the matchmaker of the mother-in-law for protection and the kind relation to the daughter-in-law. Basically this ring is silver with turquoise.
There are a lot of import jewels on sale in modern Kazakhstan. However there are very big chances to meet jeweler production of the Kazakhstan work in silver and turquoise combination sphere. Or it can be the products from Kyrgyzstan which are congenial, philosophy and the technician of execution. There were no differences between Kazakhs and Kyrgyz people in nomadic way of manufacture. One of them had a meridional nomadic way (from the north on the south); others had vertical nomadic way (from foothill valleys on mountain pastures and meadows).

If you well-founded enough man, you can get the author's works of masters-jewelers. Besides especially aesthetic pleasure they become also a good place for investments. Authenticity of turquoise can be defined by shining a stone with ultra-violet beams: the true turquoise starts to be shown by greenish colour.

It is paradoxical, but myths of many people of different continents are united by that harm loses force if the person is under turquoise protection. Do not regret money for struggle against harm in such advantageous way.