Shawl "KAITAG" wool 135х135 on burgundy background

Kaitag textiles represent embroidered panels of extraordinary beauty first discovered in the Kaitag region of Dagestan, from which they gained their name.

We were reached with the works dating from about 18th - early 20th centuries. A very complex technique that included about 16 various seams has been almost lost for now.

The embroidery had ritual significance and was connected with three major events in a person’s life: birth, wedding and death. Panels, 50х100 cm in size, were put in children's cradles as amulets, the bride carried jewelry and gifts on an embroidered panel, the embroidery followed a person to the final rest place. 
As usual, craftswomen embroidered from their memory; therefore identical patterns are hardly to be found. Textiles are full of symbols. Circle and semicircle represent the sun and the universe, cross is emblematic of four seasons or four corners of the earth, human figures symbolize masculinity and femininity.