Manufacturing of Metal Utensils and Household Items by Kyrgyz People

Metal Processing by Kyrgyz

Another material used for making dishes and household items was metal. The processing of metal has been known to the Kyrgyz for a long time. It is one of the ancient types of decorative applied art, relatively well-developed among the tribes that lived in the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan since ancient times. As early as the mid-2nd millennium BC, in some areas of present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, herders and livestock breeders familiar with metalworking (bronze) roamed. Special axes, arrowheads, and spearheads were made from bronze, as well as small tools for working with wood and leather (Bernsham, 1950. p. 58). In the Bronze Age, the extraction and use of iron began (Bubnova, 1975. p. 4). Thus, iron was obtained from the iron sand mined at Lake Issyk-Kul by smelting it in primitive furnaces. Ancient craftsmen gradually mastered more complex methods of metal processing. Along with forged and cast products, metal items made using techniques such as engraving, stamping, and granulation appeared (Sulaimanov, 1982. p. 5). Casting, blacksmithing, and jewelry production developed over the following centuries, improving and being passed down from generation to generation.

The level of development of metal processing and other types of domestic crafts at the end of the 19th century among northern and southern Kyrgyz was different. In the southern regions bordering modern Uzbekistan, where the population mainly led a sedentary lifestyle, artisanal production, such as the production of copper and metal dishes, developed significantly earlier than in the northern part. There, the population specialized mainly in livestock breeding and maintained a nomadic lifestyle, which did not contribute to significant craft development (Sulaimanov, 1982. p. 69). The gradual transition to a sedentary lifestyle favored the further development of crafts, including metal processing (Sulaimanov, 1982. p. 70).

Blacksmiths (temir usta) made metal utensils used in the daily life of nomads: scrapers for cleaning cauldrons (kyrgych), horseshoes, knives, scissors (kaichy), tongs for coal (kychkach), supports for cauldrons (tulga), anchor-shaped hooks for hanging various items, loops, rings for attaching strings to various wooden vessels, nails, dishes, and other items.

Partially, metal utensils were acquired at markets in Uzbekistan and Kashgar or from visiting traders, including teapots (kumgan), copper basins (dagara, zhez chara), washing utensils (chylapchyn, Shtaba), and samovars.

Metal dishes were decorated with applied metal plates, adorned with engraving, blackening, inlays of carnelian, lapis lazuli, and other semi-precious stones, and colored enamels (Janibekov, 1982. p. 70).

With the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, imported ceramic and porcelain dishes—plates, bowls, platters, large vessels—began to enter everyday life. Such dishes gradually replaced wooden and leather ones (Abramzon, 1990. p. 357).

For example, in the southern regions, large clay jugs (hum) of Uzbek craftsmanship began to be used for storing kumys (Antipina, 1962. p. 133).

Thus, in the process of social development, some types of crafts disappeared while others continued to thrive, taking on new forms in accordance with the demands of the time. More and more household utensils of industrial production began to be purchased.

Manufacturing of dishes and household items from wood by Kyrgyz