Pakobel Inc.: Suzani Auctions

 This post is for all my fellow Suzani lovers!!

As I've discussed in several previous posts, one of my good friends from college runs his family carpet business called Pakobel Inc./Pakobel Rugs and they have a great Ebay store!  Just the other day I won two auctions for gorgeous suzanis, read about that here!  So, I thought I'd put together a quick little post with all of the suzani's currently up for the bidding just in case any of my readers are interested....

Below you will find image collages for all of Pakobel's current authentic hand-embroidered suzani's from Uzbekistan showing the full suzani and detail images.  To visit the full auction listing for an item, simply click on the description below the image to be redirected.  All auctions start at $40 with free shipping and handling, please note  some suzanis may not be new but are always in great condition, every auction gives specific description details so be sure to read the listing carefully!  I hope you find something you love... oh yeah, and good luck bidding!

(P.S. - if you don't know what a suzani is or if you want to see more examples of a suzani check out this post and these posts or just read Wikipedia's description)

7' x 5' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

8' x 4' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

12' x 2' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

7' x 4' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

17' x 2' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

6' x 4' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani

13' x 2' foot hand-embroidered Uzbek Suzani Runner

(All images in this post courtesy of  Pakobel, Inc. Ebay Store)

Tiles, Mosaics and Patterns of the Far East

KA-POW! I'm back!

Today I want to share a colorful burst of tiles and mosaic designs that I've lovingly accumulated from across the web for your viewing pleasure and inspiration.... But first, a little history, so you know where decorative tiles originated: Terracotta roof tiles found in Lerna, Greece date as far back as the 3rd millennium BCE, the early Helladic period! From there, the roof tile spread rapidly from Greece to nearby countries of the Mediterranean and beyond to the far East. The earliest evidence of decorative tile works, dated to the 13th century BCE, can be found in the form of glazed bricks in the Elamite Temple at Chogha Zanbil, an ancient Elamite complex in Iran (also known as Persia). Glazed bricks were also used to make decorative low reliefs in Ancient Mesopotamia, particularly on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, like this:

Detail on the Ishtar Gate - Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany

Soon, painted and glazed bricks became an integral part of Persian Architecture and naturally the trend spread to the rest of the Islamic world and even to the Mediterranean by way of Islamic Spain. For me, the most inspiring and beautiful tile work is that of Morocco, Egypt and the intricate Iznik pottery of Turkey under the Ottoman Empire, which I happen to love because I visited Istanbul, fell in love and came back overloaded from the Grand Bazaar! I must definitely do a post on that in the near future, I have so many incredible pictures to share!

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a brief history on these beauties, so without further ado, here are some of the most stunning examples of Persian, Moroccan, Egyptian, Ottoman, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Moorish (whatever you'd like to call it) style tiles and mosaics to give you a bout of those dreamy whimsical sighs and get you inspired for the weekend (yes, it's almost here again, yahoo)!

Enjoy, and stay tuned for my next post on Moorish, Persian and Ottoman fountains!

This (above) is my little collage of the smaller images I found, different tiles and patterns...
I wish I could make it bigger!



!!!!!!!!Love, love, LOVE!!!!!!!!

These exquisite designs cover and adorn floors, wrap columns, staircases, walls and more....

I used this lovely picture in my color inspiration collage for my new apartment back in this post!

Wow, this is my favorite....

Tiles can work together to form intricate Mosaics like this one...

Tiles combined with tile borders for added pattern and detail....

Here are some gorgeous examples of that Iznik tile from Turkey I was talking about, I have some of my own from my travels to Istanbul, so I'll share those soon...




(Topkapi Palace - Istanbul, Turkey)

And last, but certainly not least, I am in love with the way these tile designs intricately adorn water fountains throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East.....


Gorgeous! I would love to have a big garden with this beauty in it! If you enjoyed this post then you'll want to stay tuned for my upcoming post on Moorish, Persian and Ottoman fountains!

(All images via Google key words image search and Flickr, all information via Wikipedia)