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Silver embellished shawl – Egypt

Local Name	Tarhah
Object Category	Accessory
Gender	Female
Date of object	Circa 1920
Place Of orgin	Egypt
Region	Asyut, Sohag
Object Range	Egypt
Dimensions	Length: 241 cm Width: 73 cm
Materials	Cotton Metal
Technique	Embellished
Motif	Floral Geometric
Provenance	Gifted, Sajidah El Mutwalli, 1990
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	ZI1990.500240 EGYPT

Object History 
This veil was owned by Sajidah Nuri El Mutwalli, paternal aunt to , who gifted it to her niece who in turn donated it to The Initiative collection in memory of her aunt.
Sajidah Nuri El Mutwalli was born in Al- Adamiyah neighbourhood in Baghdad, Iraq in 1924. The eldest daughter to her parents. Her father, Nuri Abdul Aziz El Mutwalli, was the last appointed caretaker to The Sunni shrine of Imam Abu Hanifa in Iraq.
She married her cousin, Kamal Abdul Latif Hamid, at the age of 16 and had four children, two daughters, and two sons. She completed her studies and graduated with a degree in home economics and worked as a teacher. Later on, she moved to Abu Dhabi in the nineties and passed away there on May 26, 2007.

Object Features 
This long veil () or () is made of white cotton metal adorned net-fabric (, mnaqad/mnaghad, , badla/badlah, fardi, ). Cotton linen or synthetic mesh hand embellished with flat strips of metal alloys coated with silver or gold squeezed shut around some threads of fabric creating intricate shapes and designs.), adorned with silver straw ( ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment. The term is commonly used in the North African Arab region specifically in Egypt.

; tariq; badla; ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment.

) or () that lends to the weightiness of the article as a whole.
The ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment. The term is commonly used in the North African Arab region specifically in Egypt.

; tariq; badla; ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment.

work covers the full veil. Both outer edges are adorned in a wide border of fourteen repeated palm leaf () motifs. While the edges are adorned with a repeated chevron pattern known as key () motif.
The central portion of the is comprised of three very large lozenge shapes. The central lozenge is composed of alternating square (irba‘) or () and drum () motifs. While the two remaining lozenges flanking it are composed of square (irba‘) or () motif. In addition, there are four smaller lozenges composed of repeated triangular, or pyramid shapes known as sieve () motifs. The remaining space is covered by a much smaller star () motif.
The ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment. The term is commonly used in the North African Arab region specifically in Egypt.

; tariq; badla; ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment.

work requires a needle 1/8 inch wide. The 3 mm wide ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment. The term is commonly used in the North African Arab region specifically in Egypt.

; tariq; badla; ), series of small metal knots made on a woven net ground as embellishment.

straw is inserted into the holes in the cotton or linen fabric, longitudinally, horizontally, or diagonally to form various geometric shapes. Each time the straw is inserted into the fabric, it is pressed with the tip of the finger to flatten it and after finishing decorating the fabric, it is hammered with a special tool, or a hard ball is rolled over it.

More Information:
Tulle bi Telli blog

Silver embellished shawl – Egypt

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