Description
This exquisite dress is possibly from Al-Ezariyeh or (Bethany) near Jerusalem, is crafted from hand-loomed silk with stripped Syrian (Qasabiyeh) silk taffeta called “Heremzi.” likely hand loomed in Aleppo, Syria.
The thob of “Abu-qutbeh” translates to “father of stitches,” a nod to the fine stitches joining the various parts of the dress.
The fabric features a striking combination of paralleled stripes, lines or (qasabiyeh) of black, yolk-color, red and green all of which are separated by a white line, also each strip has a thin line of a different color in the middle.
The thob is being patched with various fabrics of silk red-wine color on the shoulders, black silk-velvet embroidered with metal thread cords decorated with birds at the chest (qabbeh),
Also, the qabbeh is patched with atlas silk of orange and red in the centre, the sleeves and the long triangular shaped sides are patched with red atlas silk panels all are beautifully embroidered using the Bethlehem style couching technique with double (habkeh) stitch and the appliqué (tishrimeh) or zigzag patterns the pattern used is called Al -mushajjara- embroidery which is inspired by natural, floral motifs.
The vibrant embroidery includes scarlet cord in silk and metal threads, accented with silk threads in shades of pink, blue, turquoise, purple, white, orange, and green.
The thob has a rounded neck with a short center front opening.
The long sleeves which resemble a triangular shape widen to a pointed end.
This intricate embroidery also adorns the sleeves and skirt, the upper part of the sleeves and the sides of the thob are each patched with a single red atlas silk panel.
The dress is heavily couched with silk and silver-gilt wrapped thread and embroidered.
The plastron chest panel (Qabbeh) is densely embroidered with floral and geometrical patterns using a high proportion of silk and silver thread.
On the front and backsides of the dress two long vertical chains of embroidery depicting confronted leafy motives of alternating colors of turquoise, red and purple colors also a similar horizontal chain combined with floral embroidery lines on the lower backside of the skirt.
