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Unknown Maker, Palestinian

Woman's dress (thōb)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Palestinian

Culture

Palestinian

Title

Woman's dress (thōb)

Year

1800s

Medium

  • cotton,
  • silk: plain weave,
  • embroidered,
  • appliqué,
  • braid trim

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • cotton,
  • silk: plain weave,
  • embroidered,
  • applique,
  • braid trim

Materials

cotton

Geography

Place Made: Palestine, Bethlehem

Dimensions

Center back length: 128.3 cm (50 1/2 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of John Davis Hatch in honor of Olivia Eggleston Phelps Stokes

Object Number

1991.013.19

Type

  • Costume

Exhibition History

Sartorial Sanctuary
Clothing and Traditions in the Eastern Islamic World
Dec 19, 2008 – Apr 26, 2009

Label copy

The Arabic word thob refers both to a man’s shirt and to a loose, ankle-length, collarless dress worn by women. In rural areas of the Islamic world, women’s dress revolves around this minimally constructed garment, which provides ample space for modesty and for personalized and regionally specific embellishment.

Exquisitely embroidered Palestinian versions of this basic garment are some of the most impressive examples of Middle Eastern regional dress. The quality of workmanship and distinctions in motif, stitch, color, pattern, and design arrangement have created a lexicon of types that can be easily deciphered to place a woman according to both status and region or town. The Bethlehem woman who created and owned this trousseau garment would have worn it first at her wedding and thereafter as ceremonial dress, with a jacket of felt or broadcloth and a distinctive felt hat embellished with silver or gold discs, coins, and coral beads.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Palestinian
Woman's dress (thōb), 1800s
Cotton, silk: plain weave, embroidered, appliqué, braid trim
Center back length: 128.3 cm (50 1/2 inches)
Gift of John Davis Hatch in honor of Olivia Eggleston Phelps Stokes 1991.013.19

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