Zoroastrian Woman’s Tunic, Trousers, Cap and Shawl
Yazd, Iran
About 1840–70
Like other religious minorities in Iran, Zoroastrians were required to dress to identify their religion. They wore brightly coloured clothing and did not usually veil their faces. This created an obvious contrast with the outdoor clothing worn by Muslim women. A Zoroastrian woman would typically wear a tunic (qamis), together with loose trousers (shalvar) gathered at the ankle. These trousers were made from textile remnants because there were restrictions on Zoroastrians buying full widths of fabric. Women covered their heads with a small fitted cap (lachak), over which they would wrap several shawls around their head and shoulders.
Cotton plain weave with silk embroidery
Museum nos. IS.9, 9A, 9B, 9C-1954
Jameel Gallery [31/08/2012]Woman's tunic of plain weave silk and plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in straight stitches and a detached needlelace stitch, trimmed with couched silk thread, appliqué and tablet-woven silk braid and a metal button, faced with resist and block printed cotton and faced with roller printed cotton along the hem.
A series of short straight and flared panels attached to a simple bodice; the long, straight tubular sleeves are set in at right angles. The skirt panels and the sleeves are black or red silk, while the bodice is heavy plain weave blue cotton; there is a narrow waistband or strip of finer blue cotton. There is a long front and back slit from the neck to the lower chest [around the level of the bottom of the shoulder blade]; the back slit has been closed by rough stitching at the top and on the front with a globular metal button and silk loop at the top and tablet-woven braid which is on both sides of the slit at the front. Both slits are faced with resist and block printed cotton with a rust brown ground and a stylized boteh design in white and pink and blue. Both sleeves and the skirt hem are trimmed with a border of three fine lines of toothed appliqué and a twisted blue cord sewn along the edges.
The ends of the sleeves are decorated with small embroidered isolated leaf motifs in blue, green, black, white and yellow and a 'crossed swords' motif in black edged with white. This stitch is also used for the front and side skirt panels [ the five back panels are not decorated] for the series of large zigzagged lines in various colours. Again all the front and side panel seams are decorated with couched silk cords and with and interlacing stitch [a variation on buttonhole?].
The inside of the skirt hem is reinforced with a narrow band of roller printed cotton with a white ground and closely packed offset rows of grey rosettes with red centres.
Embroidery Thread: Silk, 2Z.