DepartmentTextiles-Middle East
Thobe
NameDress
Artist
Artist Not Recorded
Dateca. 1920
Place madeRamallah, West Bank, Palestine Territory, Middle East or West Asia, Asia
MediumLinen, silk
Credit LineGift of Florence Dibell Bartlett
Object numberA.1955.86.928
Collections
Old #3367 Thõb (ca. 1920) (Fig. 21) This dress is of handwoven, natural color linen. The neck opening is bound with deep red silk thread, and there is a narrow binding of atlas silk around the neck. The pointed sleeves are made of three pieces (rather than the more usual two) seamed on the outside by the knotted buttonhole stitch. The embroidery of this dress is in red with brown and black silk in cross stitch. The band on the left sleeve is embroidered on the front side of the outer seam, as are both sleeves of dress no. 1715, and is complete as far as it has gone. The right sleeve is embroidered on the back side of the outer seam, but upon close inspection we see that the same design was started at the wrist (about two inches) on the front side of this seam as well, the intention being a mirror image which was never finished. Except for the qabbeh, the embroidery on this dress is very similar to that on no. 1715. The diyāls and skirt bands are almost identical. The qabbeh has a border dāyer on three sides consisting of the jāliq ‘ayneh or “wide open eye” motif. The upper two-thirds of the field consists of rish (“feathers”), kuwwār (“flowerpots”), and a variety of eight-pointed stars (most of which are called qāmr, “moon”). The lower third consists of a qös with an ‘ayn el-baqara (“cow's eye”) in the center of the topmost chevron. Length: 126 cm. Width: 76 cm. (Palestinian Costume and Jewelry, Yedida Kalfon Stillman, 1979 ISBN: 0-82630490-7)
