Object History
When Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli was studying for her Ph.D., she organised trips throughout the Emirates to meet different groups in order to collect data and samples.
It was during one of these expeditions that she bought this overgarment (thawb) from a Dubai native, Fatimah Salim Ahmed.
Fatimah Salim, born around 1956, is a high school graduate. She married her maternal cousin and bore him 3 daughters and 2 sons. She owned a fleet of taxi cars and operated the business from her home. In the early seventies up to just recently businesses in the UAE required 51% partnership with a UAE citizen to be registered. This was a deliberate act of government to ensure citizens supplement their income. Additionally, non-citizens were not allowed to register more than one car to their name, this, in turn, encouraged many UAE women, especially those with no skills or credentials, to partner in the taxi business. Where they would register anywhere from one to a fleet of cars to their name and share the income with Asian drivers.
Object Features
This overgarment (thawb) is an important piece in the Zay Collection, as it provides an excellent and rare example of pure silver machine embroidery work (khwar_tulah).
It is basically a folded length of silk net fabric, cut at the center point of the fold to create the neckline opening and hand stitched at the lower outer side edges to create wide sleeves allowing for the hands to pass through.
The heavily embroidered decorative neckline (tarchibah) or (jal’) is composed of silver coil machine embroidery khwar_tulah and coloured silk thread (brisam), delineating the collar and central axis (bidhah).
The bidhah is typical of its era, as it is much smaller in size when compared to more contemporary examples. It sits completely within the shoulder line with the khwar_tulah embroidery is condensed into a much narrower area. A softer less overpowering bidhah when compared to those on subsequent, more elaborate garments of the nineties to the present.
The tulle (tur) fabric locally known as (bu_nafah), is widely used for overgarments (athwab) and veils (shiyal), because of its see-through, net construction. It allows for much of the garment underneath to remain visible. Women would pair this thawb with a contrasting colourful tunic (kandurah), and striking underpants (sarwal) thus each garment individually stands out creating a vibrant outfit.
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