Unidentified
Dress (Thob)
1866-1932
Scroll
Unidentified
Dress (Thob)
1866-1932
Physical Qualities
Indigo-dyed linen with silk and silk and cotton applique, silk embroidery, and cotton thread, Overall: 55 1/2 × 49 in. (141 × 124.5 cm.)
Width, below arms: 21 1/2 in. (54.6 cm.); Width, bottom edge: 35 in. (88.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Martha and Tad Glenn, Baltimore
Object Number
2021.220
The dress is linen dyed dark blue with indigo; the dense embroidery, primarily executed in crossstitch, shows the use of both natural and chemical dyes to obtain a wide range of colors including red, orange-red, brown, light green, light blue, yellow, white, pink and purple. The pink and purple are especially vivid. The fabric with wide orange and narrow yellow stripes is a silk and cotton satin known as 'atlas'. The other, mostly triangular appliqued fabrics are solid colors of orange, dark green, and yellow.
Front square measures 13 1/4 in. (top edge), 13 5/8 in. (right edge), 13 7/8 in. (left edge), 12 in. (bottom edge). Multiple different pieces of cloth were reused and reassembled, including the front square, for this garment.
Baltimore Museum of Art, by gift, 2021; Martha Glenn, Baltimore, by descent; from her mother, Julia MacDonald, by gift, c. 1980; from Robert Sacks, St. John’s Annapolis
Margarita Skinner with Widad Kamel Kawar, "Palestinian Embroidery Motifs A Treasury of Stitches 1850-1950," 2nd edition, Rimal Books, Limassol, 2014
Hanan Karaman Munayyer, "Traditional Palestinian Costume Origins and Evolution," Olive Branch Press, Northhampton, Mass., 2011, pp. 11,
http://palestinecostumearchive.com/ [palestinecostumearchive@gmail.com]
Allenby, Jeni, "Re-inventing cultural heritage: Palestinian traditional costume and embroidery since 1948" (2002). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 370.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/370
From the above:
Jeni Allenby Portraits without names: Palestinian costume Palestine Costume Archive, Canberra 1995
Jeni Allenby "Wearing your heart on your sleeve: contemporary Palestinian political embroidery" Palestine Costume Archive Newsletter Canberra Winter 2000
Jeni Allenby Symbolic defiance: Palestinian costume and embroidery since 1948 (Brill Publishers, Netherlands) (forthcoming)
Benedict Anderson Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism Verso, London [1983] 1991
Hanan Ghosheh Al Hassan Palestinian Folk Dresses: traditional and modern Family Care Society, Amman 1996
Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds) The Invention of Tradition Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1983
R F Hunter The Palestinian uprising: a war by other means I B Taurus, London 1991
J Peetet "Authenticity and gender: the presentation of culture" in J Tucker' (ed) Arab Women: old boundaries, new frontiers Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1993
D Peretz Intifada: the Palestinian uprising Westview Press, London 1990
Elizabeth Price Embroidering a life: Palestinian women and embroidery Sunbula Jerusalem 2000
Jehan Rajab Palestinian costume KPI, London 1989
Tina Sherwell "Palestinian costume, the intifada and the gendering of political discourse" Journal of Gender Studies Vol.5 no.3 1996
Ted Swedenburg "The Palestinian peasant as social signifier" Anthropological Quarterly vol.63 no.1, 1990
Shelagh Weir, Palestinian Costume, British Museum, London 1989
https://thezay.org/palestinian-dress/
From the above:
Shelagh Weir: Embroidery from Palestine – The British Museum Press, 2006
Shelagh Weir: Palestinian Costume – Interlink Books, 2009
Margarita Skinner & Widad Kamel Kawar: Palestinian Embroidery Motifs – Rimal Publications, 2007
Hanan Karaman Munayyer, "Traditional Palestinian Costume Origins and Evolution," Olive Branch Press, Northhampton, Mass., 2011, pp. 11,
http://palestinecostumearchive.com/ [palestinecostumearchive@gmail.com]
Allenby, Jeni, "Re-inventing cultural heritage: Palestinian traditional costume and embroidery since 1948" (2002). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 370.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/370
From the above:
Jeni Allenby Portraits without names: Palestinian costume Palestine Costume Archive, Canberra 1995
Jeni Allenby "Wearing your heart on your sleeve: contemporary Palestinian political embroidery" Palestine Costume Archive Newsletter Canberra Winter 2000
Jeni Allenby Symbolic defiance: Palestinian costume and embroidery since 1948 (Brill Publishers, Netherlands) (forthcoming)
Benedict Anderson Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism Verso, London [1983] 1991
Hanan Ghosheh Al Hassan Palestinian Folk Dresses: traditional and modern Family Care Society, Amman 1996
Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds) The Invention of Tradition Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1983
R F Hunter The Palestinian uprising: a war by other means I B Taurus, London 1991
J Peetet "Authenticity and gender: the presentation of culture" in J Tucker' (ed) Arab Women: old boundaries, new frontiers Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1993
D Peretz Intifada: the Palestinian uprising Westview Press, London 1990
Elizabeth Price Embroidering a life: Palestinian women and embroidery Sunbula Jerusalem 2000
Jehan Rajab Palestinian costume KPI, London 1989
Tina Sherwell "Palestinian costume, the intifada and the gendering of political discourse" Journal of Gender Studies Vol.5 no.3 1996
Ted Swedenburg "The Palestinian peasant as social signifier" Anthropological Quarterly vol.63 no.1, 1990
Shelagh Weir, Palestinian Costume, British Museum, London 1989
https://thezay.org/palestinian-dress/
From the above:
Shelagh Weir: Embroidery from Palestine – The British Museum Press, 2006
Shelagh Weir: Palestinian Costume – Interlink Books, 2009
Margarita Skinner & Widad Kamel Kawar: Palestinian Embroidery Motifs – Rimal Publications, 2007
Artist Artist
Unidentified
2000-01-01 00:00:00–2000-01-01 00:00:00
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