Sinai Face Veil

Faceveil from the Sinai, Egypt (late 20th century). Faceveil from the Sinai, Egypt (late 20th century). Courtesy Textile Research Centre, Leiden, acc. no. TRC 2002.0018.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden, houses an elaborately decorated face veil from the northern parts of the Sinai, Egypt. It measures 36 x 32 cm; the bead tassels are about 50 cm long. Locally called a burqa, the veil is made of cotton cloth and decorated with cotton thread, metal coins and glass beads.

The head band of the veil and the veil section itself are hand embroidered in red and black (cross stitch). One of the coins was struck in Belgium in 1923.

Face veils from the north of the Sinai have in general more embroidery than those worn in the south. Compare the face veil from the south also housed in the TRC collection.

Source: VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD, Gillian (2016), 'Negev and Sinai Bedouin embroidery,' in: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (ed.), Encyclopedia of Embroidery from the Arab World, London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 397-420, esp. p. 402.

TRC online catalogue (retrieved 3 October 2016).

WV

 

Last modified on Sunday, 16 October 2016 11:08
Published in Daily and general garments and textiles
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