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Pre-17th Century Middle Eastern Headwear or
S.C.A Period Middle Eastern and Indian Headwear
Table of
Contents
Skip to Chapter 3: Caps & Hats
Skip to Chapter 4: Royal Headwear
*Where possible, I have included the names of the paintings featured, so that if you wish to find them elsewhere, you may. Please also note that the compilation of this research is my property and if you use the information, I expect to get credit for the compilation.
During the S.C.A time period (pre-1600), headwear was a key part of clothing, both indoors and outdoors. Islam, though not the only religion in these regions, was quite influential in the clothing of men and women, and headwear was an important part. Several laws were written about headwear, which gives us insight into what people wore and then upon which restrictions were placed. Wiebke Walther (1999) notes, “judging by the miniatures, it seems that female headgear was more influenced by fashion than were other garments. It was often an indication of social status.” This compilation will discuss some of the different types of headwear represented in paintings and written descriptions of this time period.
The Veil
The veil is one of the most
commonly thought of pieces of headwear in the Middle East and India. In most
cases, Islamic women were required to veil their heads and face when out in
public. When indoors, they left their faces unveiled. Although Jewish and
Christian women were not always required to go outside veiled, they often did to
conform to the norm. Walther names various types of veils worn around 1471: “a
black one of a kind of netting, of which either covered the entire face or had
holes for the eyes, and the burqu’, a white or black veil which covered
the face up to the eyes.
However, “it is known that noble
ladies of the trading city of Mecca wore veils even before Islam. … If we were
to use miniatures as documentary evidence, we must conclude that even
high-ranking ladies did not always strictly adhere to the wearing of veils, not
only in the urban society of thirteenth century Iraq, but also fifteenth-century
Iran. We often find examples of distinguished ladies without veils meeting with
freemen who were not related to them, at least in their own gardens and palaces,
but not only there. Admittedly, these miniatures are illustrations to literary
texts, but one may assume that the painters were inspired by their environment.
Moreover, reports by European travelers confirm these observations, for
fifteenth-century Iran in any case. When visiting the mosque and also when
female aristocrats mixed with the people, the hair and the lower part of the
face were certainly always covered. But when ladies of noble houses appear
without veils on Indian miniatures of the Mughal period, we know that these
ladies did not sit for the portraits themselves; one of their female slaves did
it for them.” (Walther 70)
One Egyptian painting displays a woman with the veil around her head and under her chin. (Figure 1*)
“Fourteenth-century fashions may be
traced in a series of dated Persian miniatures. The Birth of the Prophet
Mohammed * from the Jami al-Tawarikh or World History of Rashid al-Din dated
1306 naturally portrays women in an interior environment and consequently
unveiled. [Their faces are unveiled.] … All the women wear similar headdresses
in the form of long rectangular scarves whose decorated and sometimes fringed
edges enable the line of the draping to be traced. First one end is pulled
across the breast wound tightly round the head, crossed again under the chin and
then folded over the head so that the other end hangs over the shoulder, giving
the effect of a close-fitting wimple. A miniature from the Al-Athar al-Bagiya of
Al Biruni dated 1307 of a couple feasting confirms the style of … a tightly
wound head shawl for women, though the representation is more impressionistic
and careless of detail. Both manuscripts are also informative about outdoor
dress which follows the main lines of development outlined for the thirteenth
century. Women cover themselves from head the foot on long chadars, which
could be pulled tightly together and swathed across the face at will. … As an
alternative to the head shawl, women are sometimes shown with their hair
arranged to
from the face coiled from a central parting and then extending in long plaits
down their backs. This hairstyle might be ornamented with
strings of jewelry covered with a fluttering long scarf pinned lightly to the
top of the head.” (Scarce 138-139)*
“These
plates, (both titled
Rustam Rescuing Bizhan from the Well, and both are from a manuscript of the
Shahnameh of Firdausi) of mid-sixteenth century Persia, in which the hero of the
Shanameh, Rustam, rescues Bizhan from the pit also show Manizeh watching his
progress. She is clearly shown closely wrapped in her chadar… while her
face veil conceals her from nose to chin. … An alternative to the all-enveloping
chadar and face veil is seen in a miniature dated c. 1556-65 illustrating
the arrival of Auleikha the heroine of Jami’s most popular and frequently
illustrated poem Yusyf and Zuleikha. While ladies peering out from the
castle wall are muffled in chadar and veil, Zuleikha’s attendants have
merely tied a brief face veil over the scarves of heir headdresses. This fashion
was probably short-lived, as there seems to be no evidence of it in later
pictorial and written sources. [The following was] noted by the Venetian
ambassador to Shah Tahmasp in 1571, Vincentio d’Alessandri, ‘And I saw the
mother of the Sultan Mustafa Mirisce … come out with her face covered with a
black veil, riding like a man, accompanied by four slaves and six men of foot’.”
(Scarce 151-153)
This figure is from a costume
book of 1588. “A Turkish woman wearing outdoor costume is depicted. … Her
headdress is concealed by two while veils, one draped and secured over the
pillbox cap having the appearance of a pleated toque, the other covering the
face from nose to chin and fastened at the back of the head. Collectively the
two veils form the yasmak.” (Scarce 49)
Indian Gypsies such as the Kutchi
and Sorathi Rabaris wore large rectangular veils. These covered their backs for
modesty since their kapadu (blouses) were backless. The veils and
clothing these Gypsies wear today can be traced back to the 11th
century. The veils in India became larger with the coming of Islam. This was for
a show of modesty. (See picture below)
“At times, certain men, such as
social revolutionaries who appeared in the garb of a prophet, also wore veils. …
In most later miniatures, the Prophet Muhammad is shown with a veil over his
face, but it is not like the veil worn by women, as the eyes were covered.”
(Walther 71) The plate to the left is of Muhammad visiting his future wife Khadija
with his face fully veiled. To the Right is Muhammad and his prophets.
Berber men are veiled. They believe
that men are more susceptible to hosting evil spirits, so they must cover the
orifices on their heads. Since they believe women are closer to the earth, they
are more protected and do not have to worry about this.
…There were those who opposed the veil. …The free-thinker Jahiz in the ninth century … [has] pointed out that while on a pilgrimage, one of the ‘pillars’ of Islamic faith – in the state of ihram, (ritual consecration), as it is called – men and women are required to uncover face and hands.” (Walther 70)
Dancers transgressed the “basic tenet of Islam … that women should not display their bodies in the presence of strangers… and appeared unveiled in public.” (Buonaventura 50)
One accessory that was most likely
worn with veils was a headband. “Ulayya, the beautiful half-sister of the
Abbasid Caliph Harun ar-Rashid, is said to have created the fashion of wearing
headbands, the aim being to conceal a birth mark she had. The headbands were
often ornamented with jewels, and also with verses or quotations from the Koran
embroidered in silver or gold thread. The following lines are said to have been
embroidered on the headband of one of Harun ar-Rashid’s female slaves:
Tyrant, you were cruel to me in love, May God judge what happened between us!”
(Walther 190) See plates to the left.
Turbans
Turbans on men are featured in
quite a few paintings from Turkey, Persia and India. (In the Picture to the left
you will see on the Top left: Princess
Duvulrani Riding, from the manuscript of the romance Mihru Mishtari,
Persia 1596) Sometimes, they have a cap in the middle, perhaps to serve as a
base for the rest of the headdress. Most likely, the bigger the turban, the
higher the status of the man.
The Picture on the right is of
dervishes dancing. (From a copy of Husayn Bayqara’s Majalis al-Ushashaq,
16th century)
They all have cap underneath the
turban.
Women in Turkey wore small turbans and plaited their hair into 5, 7, or 9 braids.
On their turbans, upper class women wore jewels of diamonds, sapphires, pearls, emeralds, and other precious jewels.
The slave-sultana Shajarat ad-Durr,
was found wearing a “cloth wound into a turban” after she was murdered by the
girls in her harem. [Though, this was certainly not because she was wearing the
turban. J]
“The wearing of turbans by women frequently met with the disapproval of
religious scholars, but repeated utterances on this subject show that this
fashion was followed regularly by women.” (Walther 190) Walter reports that
“from the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, the
constantly growing influence of the Indian environment on Mogul culture became
increasingly apparent in fashion as well … Here, too, at this time, the head
coverings of the ladies were symbols of rank. ‘Some of these princesses wear
turbans by the king’s permission. On the turban is a valuable aigrette,
surrounded by pearls and precious stones … During festivities, such as balls and
the like, there are dancing-women who have the same privilege’. This shows the
regard in which dancers were held at Court.”
“Evidence of the development of women’s costume during the late thirteenth and
fourteenth century is sporadic and in the main dependent on representations in
miniature paintings. The illustrated frontispiece [plate left] to a manuscript
of the Kitab al-diriyak of mid-thirteenth century date depicting entertainments
and processions of court life portrays women in both indoor and outdoor dress.
The flat schematized style of painting at least enables the basic shapes of the
garments to be understood. … Hair is dressed in long thick braids which fall
over shoulders and back and is swathed in striped or plain turbans.” (Scarce
138)
Caps/Hats
Men and women also wore caps. The
picture to the left pictures a Turkish woman wearing a yelik and large
cap.
The picture to the right features women wearing caps with veils attached to the top. The caps appear to have a rigid band attached to the top of the cap.
Two Iranian dancing girls are wearing caps in the left picture. (Wall painting Jausak palace, Samarra, Iraq, 836-9) They seem to be non-rigid in structure and conform to the shape of the head. The picture to the right has several women wearing caps and braids. (The frontispiece to the Kitab al-Aghani showing a ruler with attendants, Iraq, c. 1218-19.) Their caps seem similar in structure to the dancing girls.
Farhad brought before Shirin
(bottom left features a servant wearing one. Plate 36 (from Women in
Islam…) (bottom right) shows a Mugul lady wearing a tall hat with a
feather very similar to the Indian dancer’s cap.
These
pictures of a Turkish bazaar around 1600 shows several men wearing tall
caps.
Royal Headwear
According to Walther (1999), “in the Mongol period, princesses and ladies of the Court indulged in an exceptionally extravagant piece of headgear, the botaq. It may be assumed that ladies with this bush of feathers on their heads could walk only in a stilted fashion …The taj-kulah- literally the “crown hat”- was worn by Persian princesses in about 1550. In the beginning, it consisted of a narrow crown worn over a flat cap.”
The picture to the left shows the arrival of an Iranian princess riding in a litter wearing a “crown hat”. The painting to the right features an Iranian princess (Seated Princess, Persia, c. 1540) also wearing the crown hat.
The following (Iskandar and the Indian Princess, from a manuscript of the Iskandarnameh of Nizami; Shiraz, c. 1440) features an Indian princess with a crown-like circular headpiece. (It is similar to Iskandar’s, which you can see better in this picture.)
This
painting to the left (Mahmud of Ghanzna and the Wood cutter, from a copy
of Farid al-Din al-Attar’s Mantiq al-Tayr, 15th century) features
Mahmud of Ghazna hunting in what seems to be a crown hat.
These are only a few paintings which feature the items mentioned. For more information, see the sources listed below, or perform an Internet search for Persian miniatures, etc.
Sources
Buonaventura, Wendy. (1998) Serpent of the Nile, Women and Dance in the Arab World. Interlink Books, Brooklyn, New York
Frater, Judy. (1995) Threads of Identity, Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris. Middletown, NJ
Irwin, Robert. (1997) Islamic Art in Context. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York
Scarce, Jennifer. (1987) Women’s Costume of the Near and Middle East. Unwin Hyman Limited, Great Britain
Walther, Wiebke. (1993)Women in Islam From Medieval to Modern Times. Markus Wiener Publishing , Princeton and New York