black

Traditional men's costume. It consists of a shirt worn under a vest, a vraka (breeches), a zostra (sash) worn around the waist, and a headscarf. The striped silk shirt is buttoned, with collar and cuffs. The breeches are black with many pleats and the zostra is black. A black scarf is tied around the head. The man wears a sleeved waistcoat with stripes.  

Ind. no. 28: Black velvet belt lined with black fabric, embroidered with a design similar to that of belt no. 20. The shape of the central flower in the pot differs, as do some of the colours. The design is repeated nine times. Α velvet belt with an identical design and with a silver clasp attached to its ends is depicted by Magda Ohnefalsch-Richter ((1913) 1994, fig. 67), who compares it to an ancient articulated belt of metallic plaques. Therefore, the belts in the Pierides Collection could be dated to the end of the 19th century and it is possible that they are even older.

Dimensions: Width of each compartment: 4.5 x 7.5 cm. Length: 71.5 cm.

These belts were used as part of an urban Cypriot costume. They were owned by Eleni Nikoli Tavernari, the grandmother of Theodora Z. Pieridou.

Ind. no. 20: Belt made of black, silk fabric, embroidered with silk and metallic threads. It is divided into 11 sections, each featuring a pot with leaves, and a flower with petals in a radial arrangement. Above this central flower there are two smaller ones, one in each corner. The dividing line is embroidered with gold thread in satin stitch, as is the flowerpot that sits on this line, as well as the large leaves and the stem. Vertical ribs compose the relief surface of the pot. The central flower and two spirals below are embroidered with stem stitch in light brown/honey, as is the pollen of the small blue flowers. Deep green leaves on the sides of the pot are faintly visible on the black background. The design is simple and symmetrical. The theme of the flowerpot was very popular in Greek folk art. The belt would close with a metallic clasp.

Dimensions: Width of each compartment: 4.5 x 7 cm. Length: 75 cm.

Inv. no. 284: Black vraka (breeches). It features the characteristic middle part, which is longer and made of rich fabric with many folds. This was called vakla (meaning the fat tail of the Cyprus sheep) and it was usually tucked inside the waist sash at the back and untucked when entering a church. The vraka was dyed by local craftsmen called poyiatzides (Papadimitriou 1991, 41). It is gathered at the waist, where a white cotton drawstring, the vrakozoni, passed through the hem using a wooden stick called vrakorehtis, is tied at the front.

Inv. no. 208: Traditional men's costume. It consists of a shirt worn under a vest, a vraka (breeches), a zostra (sash) worn around the waist, a headscarf and a pair of black podines (boots). The striped silk shirt is buttoned, with collar and cuffs. The breeches are black with many pleats and the zostra is black with red stripes and fringes at the ends. A black scarf is tied around the head. The knee-high podines are made of leather. Podines worn by villagers at work were hob-nailed, without distinction of left and right foot, in contrast to the more elegant frangopodines, which were common in the cities. The most prominent element of this costume is the richly decorated vest: it is made of black felt and closes crosswise at the front. The decoration here is made with black cords. A vase-shaped pocket of red fabric decorated with cord is sewn onto the right side and, further up the chest, there is a colourful, stylised floral pattern. Mat patterns made of cord run along the edges of the vest and along the central opening, extending vertically from the waist to the upper back. The top of the opening is decorated with an embroidered lozenge and leaves. The opening closes with a yellow lace that passes crosswise through corresponding holes, allowing for a better fit on the body. This type of vest, sometimes with more elaborate decoration of floral motifs and even birds and lions, was admired by travellers during the first years of British rule, and was also worn in the first decades of the 20th century. Many examples are preserved in museums and private collections and some have an embroidered date on their characteristic pocket.

Inv. no. 216: Short women's jacket made of lilac velvet, richly decorated with twisted cord or braid (terzidiki) embroidery. The jacket consists of seven pieces: the back part, almost triangular with a sharp narrowing towards the bottom, two front pieces, and two side pieces under the sleeves, which are joined with a double gold braid. Gold braid generally covers the seams and edges and also forms part of the decoration of the back and the sleeves. The central pattern on the back is a tall, stylised floral motif with spirals, rosettes and small leaves, usually interpreted as the tree of life. It is framed by two peacocks with their heads turned backwards. The same peacocks, a symbol of excellence and beauty, with long tails that extend into spiral motifs, are also embroidered onto the two front pieces. The decoration is characterised by movement, expressed by the prominent curves in the rendering of the birds and the diversity of the spiral motifs which repeat selected elements of the principal floral pattern in the complimentary decoration. The jacket is lined with printed fabric featuring paisley designs in prominent colours. Yellow/gold fabric is used as lining in the sleeves. This jacket differs from the Cypriot sarka, its cut and decoration being similar to that of the peseli, the late 19th-early 20th century women’s festive and bridal waistcoat of Corfu. The embroidery was done by specialised craftsmen, the terzides, who originated principally from the mountainous areas of Greece and provided with their embroidered dress items the Balkan regions. Their embroidery, characterised by consistency of style, was done with chrysogaitania or chartzia, gold thread twisted into fine cords, and secured with stitches onto the fabric. While this jacket is clearly an imported item, it could easily be worn in place of the Cypriot sarka, as a luxurious addition to formal attire (for similar examples see Theotoki 1994, 84-85, and Zora 1994, 125 and 23 for the terzidiki embroidery).

In Cyprus as elsewhere, the lilac colour, as well as the black or blue, were colours used in formal costume.  

This jacket belonged to Mariou Karydi-Pieraki from the Ionian islands, great-grandmother of Zeno Pierides.

Dimensions: Height: 41.25 cm. Shoulder width: 42.5 cm. Lower edge width: 32 cm. Sleeve length: 51 cm and width: 17 cm and 12 cm at the ends.

Inv. no. 215: Women’s sarka (waist jacket) made of black felt, with a low upright collar and long sleeves sewn vertically onto the body. The back consists of a single piece. At the front, two separate pieces fasten low, at the middle of the waist, forming a deep V-shaped opening. An additional gusset under each armpit provides ease of movement. The edges of the garment are trimmed with sewn-on gold bands, while a paisley motif decorates the bottom corners of the two front pieces, at the middle of the waist. The seam of the sleeves is accentuated with gold braid. The sarka is lined with blue fabric. This type of jacket is typical of Cyprus and was part of women’s formal costume in urban centres during the 19th century. It was soon adopted in rural areas, where it survived into the 20th century as festive and bridal costume. The sarka no. 215 is comparable to similar samples, such as one in the collection of Ino Stavridou-Hadjipavlou, in Limassol (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1996, 137, fig. 122).

Dimensions: Height 40 cm. Width: 40 cm. Sleeve length: 44.5 cm, width: 15 cm and 13 cm at the sleeve edge. Height of collar: 4.5 cm.

Headscarf (tsemberi) made of fine cotton cloth (kouroukla), dyed in a black colour. It is decorated with printed floral motifs, composed of branches with leaves and flowers (green, yellow, purple) that are arranged diagonally along the edges of the headscarf, known as the kkenarin.

Skarpinia (shoes) are very elegantly and delicately made. Handmade, with heels and pointed toes, they are of soft black leather. 

ΜΓ184

Pair of man’s hobnailed peasant boots made of thick leather, outer side dyed black.

The boots are knee-high and heavy, without distinction of left and right foot.

Each boot consists of three pieces in the lower part, one at front, one on the side externally and one at the rear that covers the heel of the foot and extends sideways. Above the promouttin (nose), namely the front section, there is a tongue made of a separate piece of leather. The shaft consists of two sections joined vertically on the sides. All the different pieces have been sewn together with thick string. On either side of the joints holding together the two shaft sections, there is machine stitching. At the top of the boots, the leather is turned outwards (height: 3 cm), forming a tongue at front (height: 6 cm). On one boot, in the upper part, there is sewing with string, evidently for mending torn leather.

The soles consist of superposed sole leathers, more numerous at the rear where low heels are formed. Large, flat-headed iron nails called rizes (=roots), have been inserted into the soles all around, while a row of round-headed hobnails extends to the centre. A total of 24 rizes and 6 hobnails survive in one boot, with 25 rizes and 9 hobnails in the other. Along the joint of the leather to the sole, small metallic nails (spondilia) have been inserted. The wide heads of the rizes are turned upwards, covering the rim of the sole.

A decorative element, namely an interlaced curvilinear pattern made with fine machine stitches, is discerned all around the bottom section of one boot. Curvilinear machine stitching is discerned in the front section of the other boot.

The boots are worn from use. Even the black dye, that used to cover the entire outer surface, has faded.

As opposed to cordwainer’s boots (skarparisimes podines, see ΜΓ 55, ΧΑΜ) the less elaborate but more resilient hobnailed peasant boots were made by tsagkari(d)es, namely specialised bootmakers, without distinction of left and right foot, for use by farmers and shepherds. Normally, the leather used for hobnailed peasant boots came from the hide of a two-year-old male goat (dietis).

Boot height: 44-45 cm.

Sole length: 27.5 cm.

Date of entry to the Collection: 2.9.1979

Provenance: Theletra, Pafos – Purchase by Nikolaos Stylianou.