Photograph of three men no. 12

Photograph of three men, taken in the Public Garden in Nicosia, as shown by the vegetation in the background. The young man in the middle is standing on a fennel stool with his hands resting on the shoulders of the men on either side, to show his higher status. He has short hair and a trimmed moustache. He wears an Ottoman fes (fez, turk. Osmanlı durulla fes), a white gömlek (shirt) with a kerchief tied around the neck under the collar to form a kind of tie, and a western-style three-piece suit: a buttoned waistcoat with an out-turned collar, a jacket with a white handkerchief in the left breast pocket, and trousers. A cord (of gold or silver thread – sırmalı) extends horizontally over the waistcoat across the waist but it is only partly visible under the jacket. The leather kundura (shoes, turk. kuntura) are black. On the little finger of his left hand he wears a ring. The man on the left side of the photograph is Mehmet Mıstık, born in 1896. He bears a moustache and his hair is mostly covered by a fes (fez). Only the collar of his white, black-spotted fanella (shirt) is visible, as the rest is covered by a knitted cardigan closed to the neck with buttons. Over this he wears a striped sakko (jacket) of western style with a white silk handkerchief in the pocket. The outfit is completed with tra­ditional black dizlik (baggy knee-breeches) and a colourful guşak (sash, turk. kuşak) around his waist; the sash must have been brought from Mecca, as it is referred to as hacı şalı guşak. Around his neck hangs a long köstek saat (watch chain). The chain continues downwards below the waist and then turns upwards with its end disappearing into the şalvar (sash). The çorap (stockings) reach up to the knees, where they meet the edges of the şalvar (breeches). They are hand-knitted with diamond-shaped patterns (paklava turk. baklava) in vertical rows. The costume is complemented with black kundura (shoes, turk. kuntura) decorated with buckles. The third man – on the right side of the photograph – is Mustafa Mıstık, a butcher who was born in 1892 and died in 1951. He has a thick moustache and short hair covered with a skullcap surrounded with a çember (headscarf) which has lace ornaments around the edges (oyalı çember). He wears a white gömlek (shirt) woven in the loom; it has a collar and wide sleeves ending in broad cuffs. The front part on the chest, which would be visible even under the waistcoat, is differentiated from the rest to become more decorative; thus, the stripes formed on the loom are vertical in the middle of the front part, but sewn diagonally on either side to create a contrast.The front part also seems to be hand-embroidered. This elaborate gömlek (shirt) is combined with black dizlik (knee-breeches) and a colourful şalvar (Breeches) around the waist; the sash is again from the Holy Land (hacı şalı kuşak/guşak); he also has a watch chain (turk. Köstek saat) that of the person on the left side. Worth noting are the richly decorated çorap (stockings), hand-knitted with five needles to form patterns in the shape of car­nation (garanfil).