Russian Academy of Sciences
Peter the Great’s Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer)
The World of an Object

September - December, 2001

Kazakh Saukele

(the female wedding headdress: through the millennia from the Sak to the Kazakhs)

    The first ethnographical exhibit selected for the exhibition series "The World of an Object" of Peter the Great's Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammera) RAS was an example of the saukele- the female headdress of the Kazakhs.
    The decision to select the saukele as the exhibit's first piece was not accidental. Firstly, the Central Asian and Kazakh collections of the museum (more than 10,000 objects) compose an important element of the museum. Secondly, the saukele ("sau" meaning solar, beautiful; "kele" meaning head) and yurta are some of the best examples of Kazakh traditional skills. They were the most expensive elements of the bride's wedding outfit. Thirdly, this specific item (MAE ¹ 439-21) was among one of the first Kazakh objects to enter the four existing collections of the museum. It entered the museum principal collection (MAE ¹ 439) in January 1899 as a gift of the Kazakh people.
    Its principle donor, Laikzhan Derbisalaevich Birkambaev, had stopped to see the MAE while visiting St. Petersburg and was horrified at the poverty of the Kazakh collection. He promised to send additional items to the museum. Soon afterwards the museum received 88 Kazakh objects from the Turgay rural district of Aktyubinks and from the Kustanay rural district (village number 4), sent by L.D. Birkambaev and his countryman Khasan Ish-Muhammedovich Imambaev.
    The history of the Central-Asian/Kazakh department's formation is long one, covering more than 250 years. The 1742 catalog of the Kunstkammera, for example, lists "Bokharan shoes," while "Kirghiz objects" were added by 1779. The archives of the museum testify that during 1860-70 the museum received many "clothes and articles of nomadic daily life from the peoples of Central Asia."
    The collection was gradually formed through the participation of numerous groups and people, among them prominent Russian scientists, researchers, travelers, state and public workers, doctors, teachers, artists, merchants, as well as the local people of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The tsarevitch Nikolai Aleksandrovich donated to the MAE a large collection of local objects and gifts from his 1890-1891 journeys through the countries of the East (including Kazakhstan). Additionally, during the 1913 300th anniversary of the Romanov's reign many of the gifts they received where transferred to the museum. The MAE's collection of expensive Central-Asian clothes and handicrafts was greatly increased through the addition of 500 kuksov, donated by the Bokharan Emir of the imperial family. In 1909 the artist N.N. Shcherbin-Kromarenko gave to the MAE an almost complete set of "dervish suits" from Samarkand, which were demonstrated to be either the clothes of a pir or sheik- the heads of a suffi order-kalendar. The active collection of additional artifacts was continued during the Soviet period.
    Returning to the subject of saukele, it should be noted that they were crafted by only the most skillful craftsmen. Jewelers (zergers) cast, stamped, or engraved the fine metalwork details. Generally it took an entire year to produce a single saukele. Its cost peaked towards the end of the 19th - early 20th century, reaching 1,000 roubles- about the same price as 100 good racing horses. The prohibitive price was one of the reasons they gradually ceased to be produced. It should be mentioned that each saukele was a truly unique piece of work, based on the individual will of the artist, the material he used, and other such reasons. Each one was truly an irreplaceable, unique piece of art.
    The saukele were passed on within the family, from mother to daughter through the generations. According to custom, the bride would enter the house of her father dressed in her wedding clothes. The saukele was passed over to the bride, for which she would receive an expensive gift from her husband. After the wedding ceremony the woman only wore the saukele for very solemn circumstances, till the birth of her first child.
    The "World of an Object" temporary exhibit of the MAE presents this saukele- one of the finest in the department. The high crown of the head-piece is made of felt, and has a truncated form. From the front it is 34 cm high, from the back 45 cm. The top is 34 cm wide, the bottom 50 cm.
    The saukele (the object on the whole and its individual details), as all head-pieces of the Kazakh, had an important semantic role as well. The ornamental images are among the most important, depicting for example "the sacred tree of life," "sheep horns," while the materials used to craft them have an additional importance as well. In Kazakh tradition, it was believed that silver possessed a shielding force (in particular, the arrows shaped silver ties at the base of the saukele). Individual stones had their own specific properties as well: coral protecting from spoiling and the evil eye, pearls from cataracts, carnelians being a symbol of prosperity and happiness, &etc.
    Researchers have spent a great deal of time attempting to understand the similarities between the Kazakh saukele and the head-pieces of the Sak (as they were called by the Scythians in Persian sources). The Sak occupied a large territory within Central Asia and Kazakhstan, living in separate tribes. They were known as the tigrakhauda, "those bearing pointed caps." Scientist's initial hypotheses were confirmed by Kazakh archeologists in 1970, with the discovery of a Sak cheiftan's burial tomb (V-IV century BC). He was ceremonially dressed in gold plate mail, wearing a large (60-65 cm) head-piece covered in gold adornments which were extremely similar to those found on Kazah saukele. The greatest difference lay in the gender of the wearer- Kazakh saukele are traditionally only worn by women. Still, archeology has solved even this point. The Siberian collection of Peter I contained two gold belt buckles, engraved with an image entitled "relaxing on the road." Three figures form each composition: two male and one female. A woman and man are sitting, while the second male lies on their knees. The woman is wearing a high head-piece, in shape very similar to the Kazakh saukele. Archeologists have dated the buckles to be from the 3rd century BC, implying that the high head-pieces were worn by both men and women during the Scythian-Sak period.
    Almost two and a half millennia divide the Sak head-pieces and the Kazakh saukele. Nevertheless, high head-pieces were continuously worn during that time in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. They most likely served as the prototypes of the Kazakh saukele- one of the most important elements of the wedding rite.