DepartmentTextiles-Middle East
Thobe Abu Qutbeh
NameDress
Artist
Artist Not Recorded
Dateca. 1850
Place madeBethany, Palestine Territory, Middle East or West Asia, Asia
Additional Geography KeyfieldJerusalem, Historic Palestine, Middle East or West Asia, Asia
Mediumsilk
Credit LineGift of Florence Dibell Bartlett
Object numberA.1955.86.931
Collections
Old #3370 Thõb Abū Quțbeh (ca. 1850) (Fig. 15) This simple, but elegant wedding dress is made of handwoven pieces (Ar., sheqaq or sheqqāt) of green, red, and, on the sleeves only, gold silk. They are seamed together to form vertical stripes with Cretan stitching in green, red, yellow, blue, and white silk thread, the color of which changes at equal intervals. In Jerusalem such a dress was called abu quțbeh (“the stitched one”). In Bethlehem it was called thõb sheqqāt (“the dress of pieces”) or thõb shuqqa (“the piece dress”). With the exception of the modest qabbeh, there is no embroidery on this dress. The qabbeh consists of several concentric frames of scalloped silk appliqué in green, red, and yellow. The center is left blank. There is no diyāl muqaşsabeh, the brocaded back hem panel found on Bethlehem dresses of this type. The silk tassels on the end of the neckline cord constitute the only other adornment on this dress. Length: 139 cm. Width: 92.5 cm. (Palestinian Costume and Jewelry, Yedida Kalfon Stillman, 1979 ISBN: 0-82630490-7)
