Object History
This garment was graciously gifted to Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli and The Zay Initiative by Ms Widad Kamel Kawar, a prominent collector of Arab traditional dresses and founder of the Tiraz Centre in Amman, Jordan – home to the largest collection of traditional Arab costumes especially Palestinian and Jordanian. Ms Kawar is also a member of the Zay Initiative’s advisory committee.
Ms Kawar first acquired this dress from Ajloun, Jordan as part of her collection. In February 2021 she bequeathed it to The Zay Initiative after a webinar where she participated as a member of the panel along with Dr Reem to discuss their collective passion for collection.
Ms Kawar discussed and shared about her lifelong dedication and zeal to collect and preserve embroidered costumes from Palestine and its surrounding areas.
Founder of the Tiraz Centre and author of “Threads of Identity: Preserving Palestinian Costume & Heritage”, Ms Kawar who had spent her childhood and youth between Bethlehem and Ramallah. She was surrounded by Palestinian weaving and embroidery until war and displacement in Palestine.
This encouraged her to collect embroidered samples native to the land to record the stories and preserve the legacies that it embodied – the stories and legacies of the women who made and wore it, women who lost their homes, whose culture were at the precipice of extinction – as every item in her collection serves as a fond memory or a reminder of a person, a place and an event.
Object Features
A black ‘A’ line robe for women (thobe) possibly in (double_cloth) cotton fabric with colourful embroidery. It features a deep ‘V’ neck in the front and straight long sleeves.
The field of the robe is plain except for a thick embroidered border panel adorning the neckline, cuffs, and the fall hemline.
It features a series of blocks embroidered in (satin_stitch) style with a variety of bright coloured – pink, red, purple, white, blue, green and yellow – floss threads. These blocks are arranged in vertical and horizontal lines that run parallel to one another.
Bordering the panelling pattern is a series of thin zigzag pattern with diamond shaped negative spaces created by (raqmi/ raqmah) style embroidery in white thread. This style of embroidery is unique to the north of Jordan – especially from regions around Ajloun, Irbid, Jarash, Kafaranga and Ramtha – and Palestine and corresponding southern Syria.
The neckline has a triangular attachment at the V possibly made of a black elastic. The garment is unlined and is mostly machine stitched but hand embroidered.
This thobe also called a (shirsh) locally, was originally acquired from Ajloun a region in northern Jordan was possibly in c. early 1940s and is believed to have a mix of synthetic yarn.
It is customarily worn over a black or white undershirt, or at times other forms of regular domestic wears, which assists in preserving the modesty of the wearer around the pectoral region and does not use a waistband or belt for tightening it along the waist.
Traditionally, velvet is used to sew the Ajlouni shirsh, which was sometimes sewn from other fabrics.
The embroidery on the chest area is a great example of the elaborate embroidery style called (Mqatta‘ah), which is unique in Hauran region, southern Syria, and northern Jordan. Mqatta‘ah is embroidery units consisting of a group of straight lines resembling rectangles arranged next to each other and embroidered with multi-coloured threads, i.e. green, white and red, and surrounded by a frame of lines with red threads. This decoration is surrounded with zigzag edges surrounding the bottom of the dress, sides, neckline and sleeves. The coloured lines are the example of an embroidery called (laff).
With this dress, young women would wear a (milfa’) on the head, leaving part of it draped over the chest area to cover the neck opening. The forehead is wrapped with a silk (‘asbah) or (shmagh) or (hattah) tied on the side of the head to form a turban-like shape. They can also wear an (‘arjah) decorated with Ottoman coins and colourful beads, and a shmagh or silk hattah on top of it.
As for the elderly women, they wear a black milfa’ called (shanbar) on the head, which wraps around the head and drapes down over the neck, and on top of it they wear a red shmagh, or tie a striped silk hattah or a scarf with bright colours around the head. The piece (ZI2021.500913.3a JORDAN) from the ZI collection is an excellent example of this head covering.
More Info
The embroidery techniques employed in Jordanian garments exhibit significant divergence from Palestinian needlework, with the latter predominantly characterized by (cross_stitch) patterns. Traditional Jordanian attire showcases notable variation, contingent on specific regional affiliations.
This diversity in embroidery serves as a source of pride, signifying personal identity and affiliation with one’s village or clan. While cross_stitch embroidery is prevalent in Jordan, its most refined practice is observed in northern Jordan, likely due to its geographical proximity to Syria and northern Palestine.
A distinctive feature of garments like the shirsh thobe is the border panelling, executed in satin_stitch style embroidery, using vibrant silk floss threads. This technique is unique to the Horan region spanning southern Syria and northern Jordan. Women from this area traditionally complemented this dress with an ornate headband (milfa‘) / (shanbar), worn underneath a traditional cap (‘arjah) / (shmagh) – this is not a traditional cap. These headbands were typically adorned with Ottoman coins and/or coloured beads. They were intricately arranged around the head, often extending to cover the neck and pectoral area for reasons of modesty.
Additionally, women would drape their heads with a sizable lamé fabric scarf (hattah), knotted to one side in a turban-like fashion. It is noteworthy that the fabric used for this is commonly the same as that of the traditional Syrian women’s scarves (kaserwaniyah). Despite utilizing the same panels for both purposes, the distinct draping techniques along the borders have given rise to two separate names.
Furthermore, women from this region were renowned for their extensive use of jewellery, employing specific adornments for various body parts, including the hands, feet, head, neck, and ears.
Links
- Stillman, Yedida Kalfon, and Norman A. Stillman. Arab Dress a Short History from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times. Brill, 2000.
- Weber, Heike. ANAT and Her Hero BAAL The Embroidery Pattern Language of the Levant. Syrian Handcrafts Limited.
- Kalter, Johannes. Arts and Crafts of Syria. Thames and Hudson, 1993.
- Ayesh, Saleem. “Saleem Ayesh.” The Encyclopedia of Crafts in WCCAsia Pacific Region ECAPR, 1 Sept. 2017, https://encyclocraftsapr.com/embroidery-jordan/
- Embroidered Dresses from Northern Jordan – Trc-Leiden.Nl, www.trc-leiden.nl/trc/index.php/en/blog/1114-the-jordanian-embroidery-dress-the-north
- Van der Walt, Ansie. “Introduction to Embroidery from the Arab World.” Weave a Real Peace Creating a Connected Textile Community, 1 May 2022, https://weavearealpeace.org/warp-blog/embroidery-from-the-arab-world/
- Embroidered Dresses from Northern Jordan – Trc-Leiden.Nl, www.trc-leiden.nl/trc/index.php/en/blog/1114-the-jordanian-embroidery-dress-the-north
- https://artsandculture.google.com/story/aQUBtwXxH-DhKQ
- https://www.tirazcentre.org/en
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