National Museum of Decorative Arts

La brodeuse (Bonu), Mus(é)e des Arts décoratifs.

Tissus ikatés en soie, Musée des Arts décoratifs, rue Rakatboshi à Tachkent.

The Tashkent subway is worth a visite. Built on the same model as the one of Moscow, its stations are marble cathedrals. None are alike. Bas-reliefs and mosaics evoke the Soviet period, like this Kosmonavtlar Station (a name that I have never been able to pronounce) where medallions represent the portraits of the Soviet pioneers of the conquest of space. Located not far from the station, is the National Museum of Decorative Arts. I always like coming back in this museum where the welcome is still charming. It was set up in the Alexandre Polovtsev's former palace, name of the diplomat, the ethnographer and the Russian Orientalist who emigrated after the October Revolution in France where he became an antique dealer. Four rooms of the palace were restored and the painted wooden ceilings are particularly remarkable. Exhibition halls are dedicated to the big families of objects produced for the most in the 20th century by the best creative craftsmen in Uzbekistan. A tapschan is shown, beautifully carved. Written in three languages, the plate should enlighten us on the name of our object. In Uzbek, we have "supa-karavot", in Russian "Cупа-Tапчан" (supa-tapshan) and in English "suppa-big sofa". Victoria, the curator, shows me a little tapshan with a canopy. Her parents have one at home in Tashkent, as well as her grandparents.
- The tapshan is the second home of the Uzbek, she says.

Muséé des Arts décoratifs, tapchane (détail) dans la cour.

Tapchane exposé au Musée des Arts décoratifs. Le cartel précise : Supa - Big sofa, Khorezm, 1990 / Khantakhta - table, K. Khaydarov, Kokand, 1973.

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