Kungrat people
The Kungrat Uzbeks are descendants of Turkic tribes from the Golden Horde who settled in the southern regions of present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring Tajikistan around the 16th century. They were semi-nomadic sheepherders who maintained many of their traditions, including their distinctive clothing and headdresses, even under Soviet rule.
Women from this tribe adorn themselves with beautiful beaded ornaments, that have been largely unstudied, mislabeled as Turkmen work, or misinterpreted as animal decoration.
The breast ornaments and other beadwork of the Kungrat Uzbeks, are a distinct tradition within Central Asia where glass beads were not generally preferred. Unlike other nomadic groups in the region who favored silver and gold, the Kungrat Uzbeks, particularly women, extensively used glass beads to create chokers, long net-like necklaces (gulband), and especially breast ornaments known as hapamat. These pieces were traditionally made by the women themselves.
Nowadays, old Kungrat beadwork pieces like the ones shown here are scarce due to limited collector interest.
Kungrat beaded pectorals
Beadwork is a distinctive cultural feature of the Kungrat, serving not only a spiritual but also an ethnic-cultural identity-forming function. Despite Islamization, shamanistic influences, particularly the belief in the “evil eye” and “evil female spirits,” remained strong. Amulets and jewelry were designed to ward off these malign forces, often featuring triangular shapes, associated with the ancient Turkish goddess Umai and symbolizing fertility.
The beads used were often small, opaque seed beads, likely from Venice, including “red white-heart” beads common until around 1920. Later pieces incorporated transparent Bohemian/Czech molded beads and other colors. By the late 19th century, European glass beads were readily available from traders in present-day Uzbekistan. Mid-20th-century pieces increasingly used mother-of-pearl buttons for decoration. Some hapamat also included silver-colored metal discs, sometimes set with Czech glass amulets or incorporated Afghan coins minted from 1937 onwards.
Photographic evidence of Kungrat women wearing this beadwork is relatively rare, with early 20th-century photographers focusing on urban areas. However, photographs from 1925-1945 by Max Penson and later ethnographic research by Belkis Khailovna Karmysheva in the mid-20th century document women wearing hapamat, gulband, and other traditional attire.
Similar beadwork patterns and techniques were found in 19th-century rural Russia and are still present among nomadic groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Tajik groups in the Zeravshan Valley. The term “hapamat” itself may have Tajik origins, meaning “to ward off sadness”. Beadwork was also common among other groups bordering Turkmenistan, including Khorezm and southwestern Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Karakalpaks.
The earliest surviving examples likely date from the first third of the 20th century, with most from the second half. Following the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, more pieces appeared in markets in Peshawar, Pakistan, with uncertain origins. Later pieces sometimes reused older beads, and the evolution of button and metal disc decoration is partly speculative, influenced by personal taste. Modern beadwork continues the tradition, although often with brighter colors and a more distant resemblance to older pieces.
Source of the text: “Kungrat Uzbek Beadwork: Breast Ornaments and Cultural Identity” by Michael Oehrl – The Bead Forum, Issue 81
