Silver embroidered tunic dress - UAE
| Local Name | Kandurah_arabiyah khwar_tulah |
| Object Category | Tunic dress |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of object | 1980 |
| Place Of orgin | United Arab Emirates |
| Region | Dubai |
| Object Range | United Arab Emirates |
| Dimensions | Length: 114 cm Width : 128 cm |
| Materials | Silk |
| Technique | Machine Embroidered Machine Stitched |
| Color | |
| Motif | Arabesque Floral |
| Provenance | Donated, Sheikhah al Suwaidi, Dubai 1980 |
| 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 | ZI1980.500822 UAE |
Object History
In 2018, Sheikhah al Suwaidi contacted Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli
Dr. Reem Tariq el Mutwallī: Founder (CEO) of the Zay
Zay: (Arabic: costume, Pl. azyaā’), a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country or historical period. Initiative, a public figure, speaker and author. An expert curator and consultant in Islamic art and architecture, interior design, historic costume, and UAE heritage. through Instagram and was excited to gift the Zay
Zay: (Arabic: costume, Pl. azyaā’), a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country or historical period. Collection this garment in memory of her grandmother, the late Hamdah bint Matar al Muri, the wife of Ali Matar Obaid al Dhabah al Suwaidi.
She passed away in her eighties and was a close friend and companion to Oshah bint Hussain bin Nasser Lutah, mother to both Dr. Moza & Dr. Rafi’ah Ghubash.
The donation came with a novel stipulation, that the tunic dress (kandurah
Kandūrah: (Arabic: qandūrah, pl. kanādīr, synonyms: ghandurah
Ghandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: qandurah, darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences., qandurah
Qandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: ghandurah
Ghandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: qandurah, darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences., darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe
Tobe: (Arabic: thawb, Pl. Athwāb/thībān), can be pronounced thawb or thobe based on locale. The standard Arabic word for ‘fabric’ or ‘garment’. It can refer to a qamīs-like tunic worn by men and women in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the southern and south-western ports and islands of Iran, and some countries in East and West Africa. More specifically, it can refer to the square-shaped Bedouin overgarment worn by women. ), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences. , dra’ah, dishdāshah, jallābīyah, jalābah, jillābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe
Tobe: (Arabic: thawb, Pl. Athwāb/thībān), can be pronounced thawb or thobe based on locale. The standard Arabic word for ‘fabric’ or ‘garment’. It can refer to a qamīs-like tunic worn by men and women in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the southern and south-western ports and islands of Iran, and some countries in East and West Africa. More specifically, it can refer to the square-shaped Bedouin overgarment worn by women. ) loose, short or long sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences.) would be saved together with a remaining vial of her grandmother’s perfume so that the garment could retain her scent.
Object Features
This rare tunic dress (kandurah
Kandūrah: (Arabic: qandūrah, pl. kanādīr, synonyms: ghandurah
Ghandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: qandurah, darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences., qandurah
Qandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: ghandurah
Ghandūrah: (Arabic, pl. qanādīr, synonyms: qandurah, darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences., darā’ah, dishdāshah, jalābah, jallābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe
Tobe: (Arabic: thawb, Pl. Athwāb/thībān), can be pronounced thawb or thobe based on locale. The standard Arabic word for ‘fabric’ or ‘garment’. It can refer to a qamīs-like tunic worn by men and women in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the southern and south-western ports and islands of Iran, and some countries in East and West Africa. More specifically, it can refer to the square-shaped Bedouin overgarment worn by women. ), a loose, short or long-sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences. , dra’ah, dishdāshah, jallābīyah, jalābah, jillābīyah, qaftan, mqta’, thawb or tobe
Tobe: (Arabic: thawb, Pl. Athwāb/thībān), can be pronounced thawb or thobe based on locale. The standard Arabic word for ‘fabric’ or ‘garment’. It can refer to a qamīs-like tunic worn by men and women in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the southern and south-western ports and islands of Iran, and some countries in East and West Africa. More specifically, it can refer to the square-shaped Bedouin overgarment worn by women. ) loose, short or long sleeved, shirt like (qamis) tunic with frontal neckline opening, worn by both sexes. Each Arab region has a different term for what is essentially a similar garment with various small differences.) features the distinctive vertical slit (shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects.) along the left side of the neckline that is characteristic of older versions of what later became known a (kandurah_arabiyah
Kandūrah_‘arabīyah: (colloquial Emirati term), coined post 1990s, to refer to the qamīs-like tunic with vertical slit located on the left side of the neckline extending down the chest. The origins of this slit are believed to lie in the Punjabi (kurta) and is generally fastened using cotton thread ball-like buttons ('igham), or metal snaps (siq_w_bic) which were subsequently replaced by transparent versions.ly replaced by transparent versions.), a style particular to the UAE.
The slit shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects. enlarged the fitted neck opening to enable the head to pass through, in time this neckline widened allowing for more cleavage, to accentuate western-style jewellery, rendering the shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects. obsolete and purely decorative. This coupled with a lack of knowledge, by non-indigenous tailors and embroiders, of the local cultural heritage, resulted in designs and shapes perpetually copied without a clear understanding of their original function or cultural features. Ironically, it resulted in the tailors creating a back slit as a substitute for the original function of the now decorative shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects. silhouette.
The side slit shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects. was either fastened using cotton thread buttons (igmah): or metal snap press snaps (siq_w_biq
Siq_w_biq: (Colloquial Arabic), metallic snap studs used to fasten clothing. The term in an onomatopoeia representing the sound that the snaps make when opening and snapping shut.); there is no evidence left to suggest which one.
The neckline and side slit shaj
Shaj: (Arabic: shaq), meaning 'a rip or tear’ and refers to the opening at the neckline of a garment, also known as (jayīb). The letter (qaf) is turned (jīm) in many colloquial Arab dialects. are adorned in silver thread machine embroidered (khwar_tulah) in naïve, abstract floral motifs.
This tunic is typical of its time, in that it is short enough to allow the decorative ankle cuffs (badlah
Bādlah: (Hindi: badla, pl. bawādil), metallic thread adornment. Colloquially in the UAE, it refers to the embellished pant cuffs, also be pronounced (bedlah) from the verb to change, due to its value it was recycled from one garment to the other.) of what would have come in contrasting colour underpants (sarwal
Ṣarwāl: (Farsi: shalvār; Synonym: Salwar
Salwar: (Farsi: shalvār; Synonym: Ṣarwāl, shalwar, sharwāl, salbāl, sirwāl, khalag), pair of , shalwar
Shalwar: (Farsi: shalvār; Synonym: Salwar, Ṣarwāl, sharwāl, salbāl, sirwāl, khalag), pair of trousers with tapering ankles and fastened with a draw string. Believed to have originated in Central Asia it has spread since in the Indian subcontinent between c. 1st – 3rd century BCE and the Middle East from c. 12th century. , sharwāl, salbāl, sirwāl, khalag), pair of trousers with tapering ankles and fastened with a draw string. Believed to have originated in Central Asia it has spread since in the Indian subcontinent between c. 1st – 3rd century BCE and the Middle East from c. 12th century. ) worn underneath to be visible.
This garment represents a physical example of the traditional Arabic saying (zinah_wa_khazinah
Zīnah_wa_khazīnah: (Arabic: zīnah: beauty, khazīnah: treasury), an Arab saying meaning ‘beauty and wealth in one.’ In nomadic cultures wealth was portable and jewellery and precious garments were made not only as wearable works of art and status but also as a practical method of guarding and securing precious assets by keeping them close to their owners. Similar phrases are common around the Arab world, for example in North African Arab countries such as Libya they say: al hadīd_lil_shadīd.), meaning ‘beauty and wealth in one.’ The silver was employed to demonstrate style and reflect social status, but could also be melted down and sold in times of need.
