Female costume from Karpasia

Inv. No. EE 117: Female costume from Karpasia, consisting of a chemise (EE 951), a black inner headscarf (EE 2567), baggy pantaloons (vratzia, EE 1586) and a sayia (EE 1623). The costume also comprises a deep red, stamped headscarf (EE 2568), worn loose over the black one, as well as black socks (EE2200), and black leather shoes (EE 2301). Two stamped kerchiefs (EE 3122 and EE 3122a) were donated along with this costume, which was also complemented by earrings (Ea 1885) and a pendant cross (Ea 1884). Donated by Fokion Tanos, Cairo 1948. Hadjimichali 1983, 383, fig. 410. Inv. No. EE 951: Long chemise made of silk and cotton, woven taiston fabric, namely with puckered bands along the warp, which result in vertical stripes on the woven fabric. The chemise consists of two pieces of fabric, with an additional gore (loxa) on each side and simple stitched joints. The front and back are made of a single piece, without seams at the shoulders. The sleeves, long with a vertical seam, have stitched ends. The chemise’s vertical opening along the chest closes with two mother-of-pearl buttons. Length: 98 cm. Publication: Hadjimichali 1983, 389, fig. 417. Inv. No. EE 2567: Black scarf made of thin cotton cloth (kouroukla), with a selvage along two of its four sides. The other two sides have no finish. The scarf served as an inner headcover (skoufoma). Women wore an inner headscarf, which they covered with a second scarf, worn on top. Inv. No. EE 2200: Pair of black cotton, woven socks. Inv. No. 2301: Pair of shoes made by a shoemaker (skarparisima). Each one consists of two pieces of leather: one for the round front, and another for the heel counter. The shoes are tied with laces and have a low heel made of sole leather. Simple stitches are employed at the joints.    Inv. No. EE 1586: Vratzin of woven cotton. The povratzia, stitched at both lower ends of the vratzin and tightened around the ankles, are made of thicker cotton fabric decorated with loom embroideries. The latter cover a zone 24 cm. in height, which is visible under the shirt and the sayia. The embroideries belong to the type of the red embroideries (kotsinoplouma) of the loom and are called pefkota because of their density. Their pattern is the karpasitikon (of the Karpasia area) in its older and more basic colours, namely the red and the black of the dyer (deep blue).  The embroidered decoration further features lazarin (bright yellow), orange, vazanin (deep purple), and brown/cinnamon colours, but also gold made of ttellourka, i.e. metal wires, placed at the choliasmata, that is, in the fillings of the central lozenges. Above the embroidered zone there is a row of stylized palm trees. A similar design is depicted in: Pieridou 1980, pl. Ιβ; Pieridou 1976, pl. V. Hadjimichali 1983, 388, fig. 415. Inv. No. EE 1623: Sayia made of alatzia katrelioti, namely white cotton fabric with blue, yellow and reddish-brown stripes in the warp. Reddish-brown and blue stripes are also repeated at intervals in the weft, forming a very sparse plaid pattern. The back and the front parts of the garment are made of the same piece of fabric. A deep square opening at the chest closes with a loop and a button. On both sides of the vertical opening, from the base of the chest to the lower end, additional gores (loxes) widening towards the hem facilitate the crossing of the sayia. Gores are also formed at the side openings. The sleeves, sewn vertically to the shoulders, become wider at their lower end. The hem and all the openings are decorated with a reddish-brown cotton string and a zigzag line embroidered with black thread. The opening of the chest is adorned with eight arch-shaped elements, filled with linear patterns made of gold wire, as well as black, green and reddish-brown silk threads. The design is enriched with scrolls. On both right and left sides, the second from the top arch-shaped elements are embellished with a red cross on a gold background. The surface of the cross is decorated with a zigzag line of yellow thread. On the right side of the chest there is a small pocket with an oval opening. A similar sayia from Karpasia, dated to the 19th century, plaid, with sewn-on embroidery from arch-shaped elements ​​and crosses, is included in the Collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (Papademetriou 2000, 111 cat. 3). Length of sayia: 114 cm. Length of sleeves: 46 cm. Donated by Loukis Pierides. Publications: Hadjimichali 1983, 392, fig. 418; COSMESIS 1984, cat. 1. Inv. No. EE 2568: Scarf dyed in reddish-brown (xydin) colour, with stamped decoration. Its four sides are adorned by a band made of printed floral motifs, while at each corner there is a wreath with leaves and flowers. All designs are similar to those of the other scarves of the collection. Particularly interesting is the pipilla, needle lace along the edges, made of silk threads. Its design comprises small flowers with five white petals around a yellow-coloured centre, and a leaf in olive-green colour.