scarf

Inv. No. EE 3122a: Scarf made of thin cotton cloth dyed in green colour, with stamped motifs similar to the ones of Inv. No. 3122 of the Benaki Collection. The lace border (pipilla) comprises continuous green, three-partite branches, ending in a small flower. Green scarves were the first that ceased to be produced in Cyprus: they were worn by young women, who stopped using them in the course of the 20th century, thus causing a drop in demand. This scarf was part of the Karpasia attire Inv. No. EE 117. Only a few examples of green scarves survive in museum collections.   Dimensions: 77x77 cm. Hadjimichali 1983, 394, fig. 422.

Inv. No. EE 3122: Scarf made of thin cotton cloth (kouroukla), dyed in deep red colour (xydin). It is decorated with stamped patterns. Floral designs extend along its edges (kkenarin, from the Turkish word kenar = edge), while its four corners are further adorned with a neoclassical motif, namely a wreath of leaves and flowers, known as milia. The lace which borders the scarf (pipilla) is made of green silk thread and comprises continuous arched motifs (kamares). Each of these motifs encloses a three-petaled flower with a red-brown knot at its centre.

The stamped wreath motif, known as politiko due to its provenance, was employed at the workshop of Evris Mantilaris from the older days of its operation until it closed down in 2004. However, the same motif was also used by other producers of stamped scarves (mantilarides), who used to add their initials on the mould used during the stamping process (information by Dinos Kakoullis). The initials on this scarf are indistinct. Dimensions: 77x77 cm. Donated by Fokion Tanos, Cairo 1948.

This scarf is part of the Karpasia attire Inv. No: EE 117  [Cat. No. 85.] Publication Hadjimichali 1983, 394, fig. 423.

Inv. No. 2569: Square scarf made of silk and decorated with the tie-dye technique. The design, although similar to the one of no. 2570 of the Benaki Collection, is better defined and features brighter colours: white, blue, red, crimson, green and yellow. Two of the scarf’s sides end in a hem, while tassels in the crimson colour of the background decorate the other two sides. Dimensions: 74x74 cm. Publication Hadjimichali 1983, 395, fig. 424.

Inv. No. EE 2570: Square scarf made of silk and decorated with the tie-dye technique. A big cross, formed by slightly wavy bands with a lozenge at their intersection, divides the scarf in four square panels. Each panel contains designs that are variants of the lozenge motif. Two diagonally positioned lozenges are similar; their centre is filled with six oblique lines consisting of yellow dots on a green background. The third lozenge contains a cross and the fourth encloses a four-petaled flower. The entire background of the scarf is filled with smaller lozenge in white, yellow, green, red and crimson colours. These are defined by dots, which are typical of the applied tie-dye technique. In many cases the red thread, used for tying the knots, is still preserved in the fabric. Two of the four sides of the scarf end in a hem, while the other two feature a fringe of small, crimson-coloured tassels, consisting of tied warp threads (see similar examples in Egoumenidou 1997, 43 fig. 12; Papademetriou 2008, 15, 29). Dimensions: 77x77 cm.

Woman’s headscarf made of kouroukla, a thin cotton cloth, dyed in a green colour. They are decorated with printed floral motifs in red and yellow, with black outlining. The edges, known as the kkenarin, are decorated with a repeated composition of leaves and flowers in diagonal arrangement, while the inner four corners are decorated with neoclassical-style wreaths (milia pattern). The lace edging (pipilla) forms tiny flowers, a pattern called foulin, inspired by the synonymous white flower. The headscarves are printed by specialist technicians called mantilarides, while the pipilla was made by women. The green headscarf was worn by young women, and for this reason, headscarves of this colour fell out of use in the course of the 20th century.

Selected printed green headscarves are preserved in museum collections, for example in the Cypriot Collection of the National Historical Museum in Athens (Gangadi et al. 1999, 178-179, fig. 178), in the Cypriot ethnographic collection of the Benaki Museum (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 2010, 111, no. 78; see also Hadjimichali 1983, 394, fig. 422), in the Cyprus Folk Art Museum of the Society of Cypriot Studies, in the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, and in private collections.

Dimensions: length 100 cm., width 100 cm.

Workshop of printed headscarves Evris Michael and Kakoullis Brothers, Nicosia.

A square scarf made of white georgette fabric, decorated all around with delicate needle lace (pipilla), sewn with gold thread and green thread. In the four corners, there is a simple decoration made of tiny golden beads, fastened with green thread. Across the surface, one can see the marks left by folding the handkerchief multiple times, in order to be sewn onto the fez. It is paired with the fez with registration number 2213/11.

Dimensions: height 10 cm., length 10 cm.

It was purchased at the price of 35 drachmas, along with the fez 2213/11, which cost 149 drachmas.