burqa;
mask
- Museum number
- 2011,6003.53
- Description
-
Copper-coloured face mask or burqa made of indigo-dyed cotton which is burnished or beaten to shine. Straight on the top and rounded at the bottom, with two large almond-shaped eye-slits. Stitched together in the centre with a piece of card inside to keep the central section stiff and perpendicular to the face. Lined on the back with masking tape and fastened around the head with a loop of polyester fibre cord plaited with metallic thread on each end.
- Production date
- 1950s
- Dimensions
-
Height: 16 centimetres
-
Length: 42.50 centimetres (longest cord)
-
Width: 20.50 centimetres (widest part)
- Curator's comments
- Face-masks (called burqa‘ in Oman) are beautiful, alluring and practical accessories worn by some Omani women, usually from the coastal towns, villages and desert regions. Once indicators of wealth and status (see 2010,6003.7), burnished indigo burqa‘s offer Bedouin women protection from harsh weather conditions in the desert regions of Oman. In contrast, bedouin ladies from the southern region of Dhofar wear colourful hand-stitched burqa‘s embellished with shiny trims and sequins (see 2011,6003.57-58).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2011
- Acquisition notes
- Presented as part of a gift of textiles and silver artefacts to the British Museum on the occasion of the exhibition 'Adornment and Identity: Jewellery and Costume from Oman' by His Excellency Mohammed Al Tobi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman, at the opening reception on 26/01/11.
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 2011,6003.53