The drawing (R.F.7544) is a costume study with notes on the colours written by the artist. It includes a fully dressed male figure in the middle (number 1) seen from the back, and another four drawings, two of them depicting the back of the upper part and two (numbers 2 and 3) the lower part of a dressed body. The man in the middle is smoking a long pipe. His costume comprises a sarık wound around a cap or fez, a richly decorated (braided) short waistcoat with shoulder flaps hanging over the sleeves of the shirt, and knee-long baggy trousers with folds. He appears also to have a sash around the waist. The calves seem to be covered with gaiters reaching down to the ankles. Flat shoes complete the costume. The back of the waistcoat is decorated with a figure-of-eight shaped pattern; only the central parts are painted red, and the other different colours are written and pointed out with lines: ‘jaune bordé du rouge’ (yellow bordered with red), ‘Capucin’ (light brown, the colour of the robe of the Capuchins) and ‘bleu de Ciel’ (sky-blue). The back of the waistcoat is shown again twice to the right of the figure, with slight differences (dark-coloured / light-coloured). In the upper drawing the figure-of-eight and the borders are painted light blue and the rest red. Only the blue (‘bleu de ciel’) is noted in connection with the pattern of the upper drawing. The drawing number 2, at the bottom left, is similar to the lower part of the dress of the main figure; here is noted the colour of the gaiters: ‘blanc jaune’ (whitish yellow). The last drawing (number 3) presents the lower part of a body in long pantaloons, most probably şalvar, which seem to be tied round the ankles. Along the side they are decorated with a curvilinear pattern. This drawing is accompanied with a note: ‘gros Drap blanc jaunatre. Dessins noir ou bleu de Ciel.’ The black or sky-blue colour refers to the curvilinear decorative pattern applied on the thick white-yellowish fabric of the pantaloons. The drawing number 3 might also be related to the drawing of the back of the waistcoat above it, which ends with a sarık seen from the back. The note ‘ou rouge’ on top left of the page does not seem to have any connection to the drawings below. The richly decorated waistcoat with shoulder flaps resembles the waistcoat called férmeli or férmeni (Turk. fermene), which was worn by Greeks, especially the fighters in the Greek War of Independence, but was also known in Cyprus (see above condemnation of this garment by the Church in 1797).

Bibliography:

Severis, R. C., Travelling Artists in Cyprus 1700-1960, London: Phillip Wilson Publishers Limited.

References/Remarks:

An example of a red férmeni from Cyprus is kept in the National Historical Museum, in Athens (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 1996, 94, figs 74, 75; see also Cypriot Costumes 1999, 209-10). A similar coat is worn by ‘George Savas chypri¬ote colonel au service Grec’, who is depicted in a watercolour of 1844, painted by Ben¬jamin Mary (Severis 2000, 101, fig. 90). No place is indicated for the detailed costume study presented by Montfort; the style, colours and decoration, however, recall dresses common in the Ottoman-dominated world. (Turkish Cypriot: 95) Notes by the artist on the colors within the Antoine- Alphonse Montfort was so taken by the East that ten years later he returned with a friend named Leboux and visited Beirut, Jordan and Syria (1837-8). Their main interest was ethnographic, so much of Montfort's work comprises drawings of costumes and figures. their trip started from Toulon on 4 December 1836; it was on this voyage that Montfort revisited Cyprus. The two friends had to change ships at Larnaca, and Montfort took the opportunity of making two drawings, one Turk and some costume studies. (Severis 2000, page 95 fig 83)

Greek

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