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Traditional brocade cloak – Morocco

Local Name	Qaftan Khrib Fasi
Object Category	Cloak
Gender	Female
Date of object	1900s
Place Of orgin	Morocco
Region	Fes
Object Range	Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Turkey
Dimensions	Length: 143 cm Width: 162 cm
Materials	Silk
Technique	Hand Stitched Hand Embroidered
Motif	Arabesque Floral
Provenance	Purchased, dealer in California, 2021
Location	The Zay Zay: (Arabic: costume, Pl. azyaā’), a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country or historical period. Initiative
Status	In storage
ZI number	ZI2021.500911 MOROCCO

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Object History
( ) is an iconic part of Fasi heritage, and, by extension, Moroccan heritage.
The craft of handwoven () was once practiced across North Africa, with origins in the 13th century Merinid Sultanate. Yet, by the mid-20th century,  was the only place in which the art endured, due to the influx of industrial machines. It takes an entire day for a master Maitre Brocart “mu’alim” to produce 1 metre of fabric.
The specific pattern resembling a rose surrounded by woven gold , which is known as , has its origins in one family of master craftsmen. The Bencherif family are a long line of skilled craftsmen who still endure today. They settled in  around 1840 as a family of master mosaicist. They were well received and Sultan Mohammed ben Abderrahmane even sent them to participate as artisans in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. Sidi Ahmed Bencherif was the grandson of the original Bencherif to move to , yet he abandoned the mosaic profession to make silk . In turn, the Bencherif family switched to the trade of weavers and became preeminent in their craft by the beginning of the 20th century. After Sidi Ahmed’s death, his two sons, Othmane and Abdelkader, carried on the family legacy. They gained even more fame after Othmane sent a finely woven belt to the reigning Sultan, Moulay Abd-El-Aziz. Amazed by the work, the Sultan summoned the Bencherifs to the Palace and officially conferred on them the title of master weavers.
The Bencherifs of initially made only belts out of silks of various colours, covered with gold and silver, and intended for women of the upper middle class. They later expanded into making wall hangings, saddle covers, and imperial court banners. Their fabrics were not only popular in but all over Morocco. Yet when the international market opened up to European imports, production slowed for the family. Fabric manufactured in Lyon, France, came to flood the Moroccan market, competing with local weavers.
The Bencherifs were aware of the decline of their profession and decided to broaden their field by making silk-brocaded fabrics, without gold, and in simpler patterns intended for the European furniture market. It was at this time that their most famous motif, the rose or , became the trademark of the Bencherif family.
They began attracting new clientele in European tourists visiting Morocco, and started assembly work to produce small objects such as bags, napkins, and place mats, which proved very popular around the world. In 1920, the Bencharif family even opened a store in Boston, USA. Although no longer as international, Maison Bencharif still exists today, with stores in various cities around Morocco, including .
While the style of  was adopted by Moroccan stylists and designers to use in their own creations, making the pattern an integral part of Moroccan heritage, and the Bencharif names still endures, the craft of making traditional hand  is a dying trade. By the 1950s there were only four or five shops left. Indeed, in his classic monograph - Costume of Morocco - first published in 1942, Jean Besancenot identifies gold fabric in the repeating rose pattern as the quintessential fabric of urban and fashionable , even including one example on the cover of the book. Yet he describes the silk as being imported from Lyon, France. So even at this early date the fabric may or may not have been produced locally.
Today, Abdelkader Ouzzani is considered to be the last Maitre Brocart of . Last we heard, in 2019 he had been practicing for 63 years at the age of 79, and was unable to find a young apprentice. Due to the time, it takes to handweave the ornate fabric, as well as the cost of the gold and silver thread involved, his only clients were what Ouzzani called the “elite of the elite.”

Object Features 
Heavily brocaded  were typical of  in the late 19th and early 20th century. The hand-woven   was made of naturally died silk thread and silver thread gilded with gold, forming a repeated rose surrounded by arabesque motifs.
The specific pattern is known as which literally means ‘the one who ruins’ due to it costing a fortune. This fabric has become synonymous with the brocaded of . Traditionally, the fasi was part of the sumptuously layered costume worn by the bride and guest of honour during the wedding ceremony.  Due to the high price of these garments, the bride would often hire the clothes and jewellery for the duration of the celebrations.
The item in the ’s collection is very heavy, almost 5 kilograms, due to the weave in silver gilded straw . The motif of roses in pink and green surrounded by arabesque gold pattern is repeated all over the garment. The  is open in the front down its full length, and closed with small ball buttons () made of gold silk. The round collar and front longitudinal slits on both sides are surrounded by ribbon made of gold and burgundy silk bands. This edging is called (safifah), and it is also added around the circumference of the two wide sleeve openings. The sleeves have side slits, also closed with  ball buttons made of gold and burgundy silk. Soft metallic straw was added to the sleeves at the shoulders and the sides of the .

Read More
There are multiple names to what is generally called a Moroccan , such as (), (), qaftan , and (). Furthermore, in English the term is often spelt 'caftan' or 'kaftan' changing the [q] from the Arabic letter [qaf] to a hard [c] or [k]. The word  comes from the Persian word , and entered English by way of Turkish and French.
Historians disagreed about the oldest origins of the , some give credit to India and Persia, while others to the Ottomans. Some assert that it arrived in Morocco at the time of the Islamic conquest around 680 CE. While still others claim that the  is Moroccan in origin, flourishing during the reign of the Moroccan Sultan Ahmed al-Mansur al-Dhahabi (1578–1603), and from there spread through Andalusia at the beginning of the ninth century CE, thanks to the musician Ziryab.
Most likely, the  was used since antiquity by several ethnic groups in ancient Mesopotamia, possibly sewn from wool, , silk, or cotton, and originally a long vest-like tunic tied at the waist with long sleeves, typically worn by men. The first documented mention of the  in Morocco appeared in the 16th century, although the  had been worn across the Middle East and Persia long before this time.
Regardless of the differences in viewpoints, no one denies the fact that the  is popular in the Arab Maghreb countries, and that the aesthetic was especially popular in , Tetouan, and Rabat. Indeed, history attests that the city of  was known for its textile and weaving factories since the beginning of the thirteenth century AD. Around that time the number of factories exceeded three thousand, and they would have been producing the fabric used to make qaftans.
The  can be worn on both formal and informal occasions, depending on the embroidery and stitching. It is the outfit that expresses the culture of an entire society. Designing, sewing, and embroidering with gold thread or silk are activities that require skill. It is said, 'the is the service of a teacher “mu’alim”,' meaning that the sewing and embroidery involved in making a  must be that of a skilled craftsman. Among the most famous types of embroidery known in Morocco rabati, after Rabat city, and fassi, after , are the most common.

Further reading and links
Besancenot, Jean (1990). Costumes of Morocco. Edisud, Aix-en-Provence.
Kassir, Mufida Abdlnor (1978). Historical Development of the Caftan Costume. Oklahoma State University.
Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian (2010). Embroidery from the Arab World. Primavera Press, Leiden.
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Traditional brocade cloak – Morocco

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