Tatar boots– originally shchiteqler – can be found in the collections of many prominent museums. There, the boots are labeled as originated from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, East & West Turkestan, Crimea, Russia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Asia, Mongolia, China, Europe.
Although the museums tend to label these boots in accordance with the area they come from to their collections, those labels do not always accurately credit the authorship of the unique craftsmanship and technology of the exquisite leatherwork: The boots are crafted using ancient unique Kaiyly Kün (English alternative: Tatar Leather Mosaic) technology which has been developed, mastered and promoted by the Volga (Idel-Ural) Tatars on their indigenous lands of the Volga Bulgaria (now Tatarstan Republic of Rossiyan Federation). The craftsmanship of shchiteqler is exquisite and was specifically in great demand in 18th-early 20th centuries. The trade of the Tatar boots was popular and profitable: Shchiteqler were produced by large manufacturers and small individual entrepreneurs in Kazan-Arshcha and exported to many countries (the museums’ labels tell!) as well as crafted by individual Tatar masters and apprentices in vast Muslim-populated areas of Russian Empire, Central Asia, Siberia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus.
Currently, authentic hand-made shchiteqler with intricate hand-stitched patterns are produced only in small batches in/around Kazan (Tatarstan, Rossiyan Federation) by a small number of private companies in the same manner (but in much smaller scale) as the hand-tooled and inlaid/outlaid cowboy boots are produced in USA and Mexico. The hope is that shchiteqler regain popularity within broader audience that value and celebrate craftsmanship, cultural roots and functional beauty!
Disclaimer: Photos on this page are either taken by the researchers of this platform or collected, via rigorous process, on digital domains accessible to public. Sources are credited, respected and acknowledged. When possible, the images are linked to the digital collections of the museums: resolutions are the subjects to change by the hosting entities.
Tatarstan State National Museum in Kazan and History and Ethnography Museum in Arsk have the largest collection of shchiteqler and other items crafted with Kaiyly Kün technology
“Shoes or No Shoes” Museum in Belgium has the largest shchiteqler collection outside of Tatarstan
V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum, London, Great Britain
Online collection of Museum of Ethnography in Budapest, Hungary
Världskulturmuseerna – The National Museums of World Culture of Sweden
Deutsches Ledermusuem in Offenbach, Germany, owns 12 Kaiyly Kün items, one of which is dated 1812 (the oldest known with exact date). The only image that is permissible to be shared is the boot on the left that was photographed for the Deutsches Ledermuseum’s catalogue #6 published in 1980. (The copyright is: © Deutsches Ledermuseum, C. Perl-Appl. The caption reads: Boot, Kazan, Tatarstan, early 19th century). Crafted with Kaiyly Kün technology items are in the Deutsches Ledermusuem’s archives: They are neither displayed on the museum floors nor on the digital domain.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Massachusetts, USA. Shchiteq on the left (# 97.166) is noted as made by Tartar (Tatar) people in 19th century with place of origin as possibly the Crimea, Ukraine. Gift of T.M Seabury. Shchiteqler on the right (43.1707) are noted as pair of woman’s riding boots, Russian, Kazan province, Tartar (Tatar) people, 19th century. Object place as Java, Indonesia. The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection
The British Museum, London, Great Britain. These two Tatar shchiteqler are described as woman boots (1956,07.11 &1956,07.10) and are attributed to be made by Kazakh people and noted as acquired from Balkash Lake area of Kazakhstan. Gift of Frank and Olivia Vans Agnew.
Philadelphia Museum of Art Pennsylvania, USA. This Tatar shciteqler are described as Man boots (1941-79-304) and are noted to be made in Uzbekistan in early 20ies century. Gift of Christian Brinton. Ornament (Tatat traditional hear jewalry shchulpy) (1918-129) noted as to be made in Kasan, Uzbekistan, circa 1818. Gift of Mrs. Hampton L. Carson
Kuntzkamera
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Shchiteq on the left (C.I.39.91.4f) is attributed as Russian and is a part of Russian wear ensemble. Gift of Irene and Alice Lewisohn Crowley, 1939. Shchiteq on the right (C.I.48.29.4a, b) is attributed to present-day Uzbekistan, Bukhara. Made in late 19th century. Got of Eugene Jackson Koop, 1948.
Gift of the B.Blackmans
Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, USA
Saint Petersburg, Rossiyan Federation
Production Place: Hungary
Museum of Applied Art, Budapest, Hungary
Rossiyskyi Ethnographic Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russiyan Federation
Ethnography Museum, Astrahan’, Rossiyan Federation
Vanersborgs Museum, Sweden via Digital Museum Collection. Production label: Ryssland
Permskiy Ethnography Museum of Rossiyan Federation
Shoe Icons Online Museum, Shchiteqler crafted by short-lived footwear company Pillot Bottier Paris around 1932. Design is very close to the pairs in the collection of Ledermuseum in Offenbach crafted in Tatarstan in late 19th century.
In Livrustkammaren Museum ın Sweden, there is an intricately embroidered with linen thread saffian (soft leather) boot (7121_LRK, Nr 1867:5787:96) the pair of which travelled to Sweden during the Livonian wars (1558-83) over Baltic region with Tsardom of Moscovy (also not correctly referred as Tsardom of Russia) that by that time freshly absorbed Christian principalities of Novgorod (1478), of Pskov (1510), as well as Muslim Khanates of Kazan (1552), of Astrakhan (1556). The Muslim people of Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan as well as of Khanate of Qasim and Kirim were called Tartars by the westerners because they bore cultural, religious, linguistic connections as well as carried associative Chinghiz Khan’s legacy. The Tatars were highly skilled in quality leather processing and elaborately-decorated footwear.
The boot is Livurstkammarem Museum is labelled both “Tatar” and “Tartar” boot. You can read more on differences on our page “Tatar or Tartar?”. An interesting replication efforts of this boot by a historic footwear expert can be viewed here. Interestingly, this “Tatar” boot’s decoration is representative of the decorative leather craftsmanship of the vast muslim population of EurAsia of those times: a complex sophisticated and intricate embroidery over the surface of soft aromatic leather with various types of thread and stitching techniques. This boot is embroidered with thick linen thread. This type of embroidery can be found in leather crafting of the people populating Carpathian mountains (e.g., this leather belt). Traditional decorations of shchiteqler (aka modern “Tatar” boots) by the Volga Bulgar-Tatars (to what this website is dedicated to) is created with Kaiyly Kün decorative technology that aligns complex ornamental leather cutouts with distinctive decorative stitch that connects cutout edges on the inside of the boot. The earliest known artefact with this technology is dated late 18th century.
It is most likely that the exceptionally decorated boot in Livrustkammeren Museum got originally labelled as “Tartar” because of very similarly decorated boots’ detailed drawing in one of few texts about the area beyond Moscovite Tsardom (part of modern Rossiyan Federation) that was tagged as Tartaria by Sigmund von Herberstein in his “Rerum moscoviticarum commentarii”(Notes on Moscovite Affairs) written in 1549 in Latin.
This kind of heavily decorated exceptional boots of soft red leather were made and worn by the people from the “Tartar” lands that represented a collection non-Christian, mostly Muslim kingdoms: Kazan Khanate, Astrakhan Khanate, Khanate of Sibir (Tyumen),Nogai Horde, Kasim Khanate, Kirim Khanate,. By the time Herberstein served as an ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor to Grand Duchy of Moscovy in 1517 and 1526 all Muslim Khanates of EuroAsia were independent. They got subjugated by Mosvite Tsardom in 1552, 1556, 1598, 1634, 1681, 1783 respectively, and became subjects of Christian Tsardom of Moscow (~1547) and re-vamped Rossiyan Empire in 1721.
Unique Leather Mosaic of the Tatars 