Photograph of Şah Mehmet no. 22

Photograph of Şah Mehmet (1900-1938), taken in 1925. It is a ‘while-you-wait’ pho­tograph with an unrolled painted background showing a tall column on the left behind the young man. He poses seated on a traditional wooden chair, with legs crossed, the right over the left leg. His left hand grasps the upper end of a stick, while the right hand is resting on the left and holds a cigarette between the fingers. He has a short, trimmed moustache and his hair is completely covered by a tall Ottoman fes (fez). He wears a white gömlek (shirt) made of raw silk cloth (sadakor); it has full sleeves with broad cuffs and a turned-out collar. The silk, colourful şalvar (sash) around his waist is from Tripoli (tarab­lus turk. trablus), as are also his şalvar (baggy breeches). The heavily pleated şalvar (baggy breeches) seems to have been made of blue broadcloth and is richly decorated with applied braids made of twist­ed silk threads, forming a wickerwork pattern and solid curving motifs ending in spirals. The decoration is especially thick at the edges of the leg openings around the knee. This kind of şalvar (baggy breeches) is part of the typical attire of the Turkish townsman in Cyprus, and, as shown by several surviving examples, it is usually accompanied with a similarly decorated waist­coat. Şah Mehmet is also wearing long çorap (stockings) with lozenge-shaped designs (baklava) and brand new, gıcırdaklı gonçlu potin (creaking, elastic-sided, leather ankle boots). From his belt hangs a silver chain, longer than two yards (arşın = Turkish measure of length of about 28 inches, 68cm, now obso­lete) with a watch suspended from it.