Kusai coat from Uruzgan, Afghanistan

Kusai felt coat from Uruzgan, Afghanistan (2010). Kusai felt coat from Uruzgan, Afghanistan (2010). Courtesy Textile Research Centre, Leiden, TRC 2010.0087.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden keeps a traditional felt coat from southern Afghanistan (TRC 2010.0087). This type of garment is called a kusai and is illustrated in Mountstuart Elphinsone's Account of the Kindom of Caubul.., which was first published in 1815. This type of coat is still worn by Pashtun nomads (Kuchis) in the region.

The example held by the TRC was given to Willem Vogelsang in 2009 by the district chief in Derawud, in the southwestern part of Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan. The garment was specially made for the occasion. It is decorated with some simple geometric designs embroidered down the front of the garment and on the sleeves.

See also the TRC digital exhibition Afghan Dress (TRC, Leiden, 2017) and the TRC digital exhibition Dressing The Stans: Textiles, Dress and Jewellery from Central Asia (TRC, Leiden, 2017). See also Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood and Willem Vogelsang, Encyclopedia of Embroidery from Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent. London: Bloomsbury Publishing 2021, pp. 199. 

TRC online catalogue (retrieved 16 May 2021).

WV

Last modified on Monday, 17 May 2021 17:04
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