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Date Made

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Date Collected

Date Owned

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Cultural Context

ceremonial

Specific Techniques

Many different embroidery stitches, including buttonhole stitch; double buttonhole stitch; cross stitch; cretan stitch; couching; satin stitch.

Narrative

This garment was purchased by the owners of Terlingua, a retail shop in Calgary, from an agent or dealer in Kabul, Afghanistan, and exported to Canada from there. The tunic was offered for retail sale at Terlingua previous to its acquisition by the Museum of Anthropology.

Description

A multicoloured woman’s tunic that is embellished with panels and bands of embroidery on both the front and the back, incorporating several styles of embroidery. On the front, there is a large embroidered panel from shoulder to hip, and the upper edge of this panel extends over the shoulders to form a narrow yoke on the back. The embroidery on this panel is so elaborately detailed and so densely worked that very little of the background textile (red-orange tie-dyed silk) is visible, and this part of the tunic is very stiff. Design elements in this embroidered panel include many small circular motifs arranged in vertical and horizontal stripes. Three very large circular motifs are at the bottom of the panel. Many small glass mirrors are part of the design. The neckline is squared and close fitting. Below the densely embroidered panel on the front are three solid coloured horizontal bands of silk and cotton textile (orange; light green; purple), embroidered with densely-stitched decorative medallions and bordered with diamond, square and circular motifs. The back of the tunic has a centre-back neckline slit (26.5 cm) with braided fibre ties. Pouches made of purple silk textile and containing small amounts of dried plant material are sewn into the top of the neck edge on both sides of the neckline slit. Below the back shoulder yoke is a large panel of yellow cotton textile, embroidered with multicoloured circular medallions that are enclosed within black triangular compartments, each bordered with small multicoloured triangles. Narrow vertical strips of silk textile (magenta; purple) edged with braid and rickrack form side panels that connect the front to the back. Elbow-length close fitting sleeves are made of solid coloured bands of cotton textile (orange; purple; rose), trimmed with embroidery, braid rickrack. All panels and bands are underlined with cotton textile. A label made of off-white cotton textile, printed with a rubber stamp and handwritten with ball-point ink, is attached at the neck edge on the front with a loose running stitch.

History Of Use

Worn by the bride at her wedding, then daily until it wears out. After that, salvageable parts are used to make other items, such as purses, cushion covers or door hangings. Wedding tunics are made by the bride’s mother, who begins the embroidery when a girl is born. She continues working on it until the wedding day, sometimes with the help of neighbors and relatives. Razia Ahmed states that “during the wedding ceremony the (neckline) slit is worn to the back, but after the marriage is consummated it is worn to the front. This is symbolic. After the wedding ceremony the slit is worn permanently to the back.” This type of tunic is worn with shalwars (baggy pants), usually made of susi, a special woven cloth made in Sindh. Many of the women who would have made them are now employed in the money economy and no longer have time to embroider, as in the past.