Requests from referer
Object History
Faisal al Rayes, a Bahraini designer focused on Bahraini traditional dress, connected through Instagram with Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli. They soon became friends as he helps to source many articles of dress, encouraging his clients to donate to the Zay Initiative.
Object Features
This rare example of overgarment (thawb) dates back to the 1970s or the beginning of the 1980s. Despite its age the translucent, white, lustrous, cotton voile fabric, still looks somewhat new, indicating it was seldom used.
It is embellished in silver straw technique (naqdah). The silver straw (khus), surrounds the collar and the central axis extending below the hips, running parallel in three naïve lines of repeated chevron motif, colloquially called (rīl al dayāī) meaning chicken footprint. It shows oxidization due to age. Thus, the color change to black in some areas, while more polished sections show restored silver luster.
The naqdah technique is common in all Arab Gulf states. Customarily, it uses silver straw (khus), about 0.5 cm wide, which is weighed in (tulah) when purchased. It is threaded onto a flat, wide needle with a similarly flat, wide eye. The strips are then threaded into the fabric, crisscrossed, and flattened by applying pressure with fingernails.
The method is used to make different geometric shapes, composed of individual dots that look like stars. Once the whole design is complete, the fabric is stamped down and passed through a roller, to flatten the metal even more.
Such a garment is customarily worn over underpants (sirwal) and a tunic dress (dara’ah), and is reserved for very special social events such as weddings.
This is a physical example of the traditional Arabic saying (zinah_wa_khazinah), meaning “beauty and wealth in one”. The silver embellishment (mnaghad) which decorated this veil was employed to show status and style but could also be melted down and sold in times of need.
Keywords: naghdah
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