Quilted Cap from Afghanistan

Quilted cap from Afghanistan, c. 1915, collected by Oskar von Niedermayer. Quilted cap from Afghanistan, c. 1915, collected by Oskar von Niedermayer. © Foto: Ethnologisches Museum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, acc. no. I B 9437.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin houses a quilted cap from Afghanistan, which was collected by Oskar von Niedermayer (1885-1948) when he was sent to Afghanistan by the German government to set up the Afghans against the British in India, during the First World War (1914-1918). The mission failed, and the German mission was forced to leave the country.

After active service in the German army during WW II, Von Niedermayer died in a Russian prison hospital in 1948. The cap originates from the north of the country. It is 13.5 cm high.

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).

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin online catalogue (retrieved 3rd December 2016).

WV

 

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 April 2018 08:40