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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: 217 cm Width: 60 cm
Materials	Cotton Metal
Technique	Embellished
Motif	Geometric
Provenance	Gifted, Khawlah Hafudh Khalid, 2017
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	ZI2017.500552 EGYPT

Object History 
Khawlah Hafudh Khalid was born in Al Adamiyah neighbourhood in Baghdad, Iraq in 1939. Educated at the convent school of Baghdad, she graduated with a BSC in pharmacy from Baghdad University and followed it with a pharmacology MSC.
She married Anwar Dhiab in 1967 and had a daughter and two sons who bore her seven grandchildren.  In 1980, she immigrated to the USA with her family and presently resides in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts.
Khawlah Hafudh Khalid has a passion for knowledge in all its forms and enjoys reading, socialising, and helping her community and friends. She is a family friend of and an avid supporter of The Initiative. She has donated many articles of clothing of her own as well as her family’s.

Object Features 
This long veil () or () is made of white cotton metal-embellished 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 border of two zigzag lines that form continuous lozenge shapes known as a border () motif. While the edges are adorned with a repeated diagonal line known as key () motif.
The central portion of the is comprised of three very large lozenge shapes that consist of lozenges, one repeated inside the other. In addition, there are two small-sized lozenges that connect the larger lozenges to each other. The remaining space is covered by a much smaller wavy pattern known as water (mayiah) 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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