by Caroline Stone – Seville, December 17th.
Indigo from one of the indigo bearing plants has been a favourite dye-stuff for millennia. Caucasian Georgia, with its rich textile tradition and intersected by major trade routes, was no exception.
Lurji supra ('blue table cloth') from late 20th century Georgia, made of block printed cotton, now in the TRC collection (TRC 2021.2159).
Hospitality and feasting are a fundamental part of Georgian culture and it seems to have been about this date that the blue and white tablecloths – lurji supra ('blue [table] cloth'; compare the Persian sofreh) – became a traditional element. The earliest surviving tablecloths are block printed with white on indigo, using the reserve print technique. White cloth is stamped with a resistant paste so that, when the cloth is dipped in the indigo bath, those areas do not absorb the dye and remain white.
Interestingly, there are close parallels with Blaudruck, the white and indigo printed cloth produced in what was the Austro-Hungarian empire and Germany. It was introduced into Southern Africa by Swiss and German settlers, where it took on a new life, known as shweshwe in Sotho, although this term is now used for a range of fabrics.
Hand printed, cotton lurji supra from early 21st century Georgia, now in the TRC collection (TRC 2022.3122).
Some of the oldest supras are printed on silk, but later cotton became the norm, either for practical or economic reasons, or because the supras had now become a popular, not simply a luxury, item. Originally, buteh and geometric patterns predominate, often arranged in lines rather than interacting, and clearly both technique and design owe much to India – probably the source of the indigo - and Iran, although cloths from those countries tended towards polychrome prints.
In the course of the 19th century, Georgia added a range of motifs to the supras, often containing popular or folk references and each having a definite meaning. There are household items such as spoons and forks, dancing figures, warriors, birds, fish and sometimes a deer carrying a banner, iconographically similar to the western “Lamb of God”.
Georgian craftsman proucing modern lurji supra.Some cloths carry inscriptions, the maker or the owner’s name, for example. Ketevan Kintsurashvili, in her article cites an example signed by a craftsman originally from Diyarbakir, a Turkish city famous for its textiles. Another cloth reads: “I am a tablecloth. I am waiting to be stretched out and am looking forward to the wine being poured.” A purely Georgian sentiment!
Towards the end of the 19th century, however, silkscreen printing gradually drove out the traditional woodblocks. While much more efficient, lending itself to mass production, the result is less personal than with the earlier hand carved blocks, usually made of fruit wood, such as pear. Chemical dyes were also increasingly used, being cheaper and very much simpler to use than vats of natural indigo, which required special preparation.
I have not been able to establish whether the original woodblock printed lurji supra was produced as a cottage industry or whether, because of the complexity of indigo dyeing, it was always made in professional workshops.
During the Communist period, folk arts tended to be encouraged, but by the coming of independence and the accompanying struggles, their popularity was already in decline, small workshops closed, production effectively ceased and the tradition was on the verge of being lost.
However, through these difficult years, experts and textile artists, such as Irina Koshoridze and Nino Kipshidze struggled to preserve this emblematic example of Georgia’s cultural heritage and in 2010 the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts initiated a practical revival programme, spearheaded by Tinatin Kldiashvili and Ketevan Kavtaradze.
Cotton, hand-printed lurji supra from early 21st centurry Georgia, now in the TRC collection (TRC 2022.3123).
By studying old examples and experimenting with techniques not only are beautiful examples being produced, but also a new generation of craftsmen is being trained. The main output is silk screened, but block printed supras, going back to the origins of the tradition can also be commissioned. So that the supra does not become static, constantly reproducing the same models, there are also innovations in terms of design and the cloths are now produced in deep red as well as blue, although there may be a precedent for this, since madder was an important crop in the Caspian Caucasus throughout the earlier period.
Wooden printing blocks from modern Georgia, for decorating the lurj1 supra.
The result of the efforts of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and Georgian scholars has been the recovery of an emblematic part of the local culture and, incidentally, a much appreciated souvenir. In 2017 the lurji supra was given material monument status by UNESCO, and the TRC is very pleased to have a number of these cloths in its collection.
