Object Note
According to the label, this cloak (abayah) is made by (Malbus Al Amirat) workshop in Lebanon.
Object History
Mr. Jabir Al-Hajiri contacted Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli through Instagram, due to a mutual passion for culture and heritage, and offered to help by sending a few articles as a contribution to the Zay collection, including this cloak (abayah). He recalled he had bought it sometime in the past from a traveling salesman (Lilam) or from the flea market ( Suq_Al Haraj) in Doha.
Object Features
This cloak named (abayah), (bisht), (mishlah), (dafah), is generally constructed from two rectangular pieces of fabric of equal length (fajatayn) sewn together horizontally.
The two outer edges of each length (fajah) are folded to the middle and sewn at the top to create the shoulder line. The lengthwise folded sides fajatayn thus leave an opening in the middle running the length of the front body section.
Two small holes are opened at the folded line, on the top corners of each shoulder line to allow the hands to pass through creating the sleeves without having to cut and add a sleeve as in most clothes.
The abayah or dafah – as it is called in Qatar – is embellished with a gold cord called (qitan) from the shoulder line down to the wrists, around the sleeve’s openings, and on the edges of the front longitudinal opening. It thus at times referred to as (um_qitan).
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