Village boy’s striped cape (‘abayeh) made of coarse handwoven cream and brown coloured wool. The front and the back of neck are embroidered with flat stitch and chain stitch in yellow and red floss silk. The armholes and front openings are finished with zigzag stitch and the top seam is stitched with interlaced cross stitch, both using yellow and red floss silk as well.

Curator's comment: The costumes in this collection were used for exhibitions and demonstrations of life in Biblical times, on the (mistaken) assumption that 19th century costumes were identical to those of that era.

via The British Museum.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Pair of children's shoes; red leather uppers with stitched plain soles; decorated on the face with a stylised floral spray.

via The British Museum.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

These red shoes with metal thread embroidery were made for an affluent family in one of the urban centres of the Ottoman Empire. The toddler may have worn them for his circumcision ceremony or another important occasion.

via Life and Sole: Footwear from the Islamic World

Pair of children's boots (zarabil) made of red leather with indigo-dyed silk tassels and an iron heel-piece.

via The British Museum.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

These red boots (yezmeh or zarabil) are made of camel leather dyed from natural pigments such as the madder plant or pomegranate peel. The iron heels attached to the soles suggest that their owner came from a Bedouin family of horse or camel riders. The indigo-dyed tassels on the boots were meant to protect children against the ‘evil eye’.

via Life and Sole: Footwear from the Islamic World

Pair of bath clogs. Each clog, qabqāb, is made from one piece of wood covered with purple velvet and decorated with floral open-work and repoussé low-content silver metal plaques. Each clog has a leather strap to hold the foot, also covered in purple velvet, with a floral open-work and repoussé metal strip with a central undecorated oval medallion on top. Round bells are attached to the sides and front of each clog.

via The British Museum.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

These exquisitely crafted indoor wooden clogs (qabqab) are covered in purple silk velvet and decorated with embossed and pierced metal plaques and bells. They belonged to an Armenian woman whose family migrated to Syria in the early 20th century. They had been part of her grandmother’s wedding dowry.

via Life and Sole: Footwear from the Islamic World

Sale Paganine

(Musei di Strada nuova, Genoa)