Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

IPARMŰVÉSZETI MÚZEUM — MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS - Egyed, Edit: On a Textile from the Safavid Period

EDIT EGYED ON A TEXTILE FROM THE SAFAVID PERIOD Some years ago the Department of Textiles of the Museum of Applied Arts obtained a textile of special value. This work of art also noteworthy from the view-point of the history of costume calls the attention of those studying the history of Islamic textiles first of all with its woven fabric. The Department purchased two dolmans at the same time, one from the 18th century Persian art, while the other can be dated to a much earlier period — the golden age of the Persian art — on the basis of style criticism and technical examinations. A report on the later dolman will be published in an other study. This paper gives the description of the textile from the earlier period. The cut of the dolman tries to follow the 17th c. forms. The back of the coat shows traces of manifold alterations, which on one hand refers to the fact that it was inherited, perhaps by son from father, on the other hand it is most probable that the original owner got the woven fabric through the Turks from the East, and it was fashioned to its wearer's taste and the vogue of his society. The seller told at the time of the purchase that there had been a Croatian ban among the ancestors of the family, from whom the dolman had been inherited. The cut of the dolman (fig. 1.) is tight down to the waist, from there it becomes gradually looser downwards. It is tailored and stitched in the waist, its fore-part is cut out in shako-form, which is stressed by a pieced-in triangle. The inset sleeves gradually tighten downwards. Its stand-up collar does not lap over at the ends, only touches. On the coat upwards from the cut on the left and right sides as well as on the back there are diverging seams, which serve the better fitting. There are settings in in several places of the part loosening from the waist downwards and in the arm-holes. The right hand closing of the forepart is ornamented with thirty small hand-sewn buttonholes. The buttonholes are set in threes. In all probability the lace in the holes attached to the buttons now missing from the left side. Naturally the whole dolman is hand sewn. The sleeves are not teppentős, but on both there are separately woven shield-shaped applied ornaments of repp silk with patterns differing from the original woven fabric. The sleeves have single stitching downside, the seam at the wrist is wit a jag, closing with eight hooks. The lettings in visible on the coat refer to the fact that the woven fabric arrived in length from its place of origin. 1 Inv. No.: 65.227.1.