Embroidered panel from Ottoman Turkey, 19th century, probably for the tourist market (TRC 2024.2255).(11 August 2024) In a recent TRC blog about an Ottoman-period embroidered apron (TRC 2003.0199), I mentioned that the garment, which also has embroidered texts in Arabic script, may have been intended for the tourist market.

Recently, the TRC was given two metal-thread embroidered panels, also from Ottoman Turkey, which include images of mosques, crescent moons and stars, as well as some texts (TRC 2024.2255 and TRC 2024.2256).

What do the texts say, and were both of them, as we suspect, intended for the 19th century tourist market?

These questions were initiated by the apron discussed previously. Basically, the apron consists of a small bib, a skirt section and waist ties. They were made from a fine cloth, decorated with floral, geometric and paisley (buteh) motifs in white silk and gold-coloured metal thread. There are also texts around the outer edge of the skirt section.

The bib has a signature (tughra) based on the name of a sultan, worked in satin stitch, using white floss silk and silver metal thread (passing). In addition, the waist ties have texts in Arabic script (although one of these texts is worked upside down).

We initially suspected it was a Western Europe-style urban apron that had been made from part of an Ottoman woman’s gown (entari). However it would appear from the works of Charles White, Three Years in Constantinople: Domestic Manners of the Turks (London, 1845) that it is probably a mid-19th century Istanbul embroidery. probably made for the tourist trade, perhaps even in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul itself (or at least for sale there). So what do the texts say, and would this information help in identifying when and why the apron was made?

Detail of Ottoman Turkish apron (TRC 2003.0199).

We asked one of our friends from Leiden Universirty for advice, and he made it quite clear that the text on the waist straps simply does not make any sense. It consists of one word that is being repeated and repeated. And the tughra (monogram of the sultan) in the upper part is so generic that it cannot be attributed to a specific sultan, although it can be concluded that it dates to the 19th century.

Embroidered panel from Ottoman Turkey, 19th century, with repeating text around the mosque (TRC 2024.2256).Surrounding the tughra is another text, regular and mirrored, but illegible. This may reflect an Arabic (religious) phrase. It looks somewhat like the first three words of Sura 48:1 ('Indeed, We have granted you a clear triumph ˹O Prophet).  This is quite usual, according to our colleague, because people could not read or write and often copied something as an image, not as a text. The words of Sura 48:1are frequently used in the 19th century as an apotropaic text, protecting people, but is not common on aprons.

So not only were the inscriptions ‘fake’, but apparently so was the tughra. But several other points can be raised, namely what was the role of inscriptions in a semi-literate society where, in all likelihood, the embroiderers were not only illiterate, but in the case of the Ottoman embroidery market they were probably not even Turkish Muslims, but Christians (Armenians; White 1845, vol. 2, p. 103).

So why would the inscriptions and their meanings be of importance to the embroiderers? They were there to embroider the objects with a specific pattern, rather than to worry about any potential meanings. The inscriptions could be seen as just shapes, with no specific meaning (as someone who is dyslexic I have long had ‘problems’ in living in an ultra-literate world, where words, their spelling, pronunciation and various meanings are regarded as of the greatest importance (needless to say, I much prefer the visual world!).

As a result, there is a presumption that if there is an inscription, then the meaning of the text is the most important element and that everyone would want to read it, rather than it just being a collection of attractive shapes. A related presumption is that, because it was a religious inscription, it would warrant the highest quality of work, rather than them being worked like all the other motifs, of whatever workmanship.

Magazine image, early 20th century, of a group of embroiderers in the Street of the Tentmakers, Cairo, Egypt, making appliqués for the tourist market (TRC 2017.2350).

Tourist trade

Another of the questions raised by these three embroideries concerns the nature of the tourist trade and our modern preconceptions about it. Prior to the development of travel opportunities in the 19th century (especially with trains and steam ships), travelling, especially going abroad, was the prerogative of a few, usually diplomats, their families, religious groups going on pilgrimages and later, missionaries, and those going on the so-called Grand Tour. The latter were mainly wealthy young men, who often brought back, or more often had them sent home, including, for example, books, paintings, and other pieces of art. They had the means to pay for good quality pieces!

Figure of a woman on a donkey with Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in the background. Egypt, Cairo, 1920s, produced for the tourist market (TRC 2015.0560).All of this changed in the 19th century when people travelled on holiday or for work, but again it was mostly the wealthy who travelled. When Charles White was writing in 1845 about the tourist trade and the production of embroidery he was not referring to vast numbers of people on budget holidays, but to a small, select few with money. So it is not so surprising that the quality of the embroidery was good. People expected, and in many cases received, well-made items.

By the 1870s century, travel agents such as the Cook’s Tours, sent groups to venues all over the world. But again, the people who went on these tours were not poor, and many wanted locally produced items as a reminder and souvenir of their trips.

The real change took place in the 1960s and 1970s, when the international tourist trade involved a much wider social and economic market. Many local market were flooded with mass produed items, which were often not only of poorer quality, but also produced far away from the local market. Many items of hand made lace for sale in Brussels and Brugge, for example, appear to have been made in China. This is ony one example; the famous glass from Venice is also produced elsewhere, and when we toured Hungary some years ago collecting 'local' embroidery, we had problems finding textiles actually produced in Hungary.

Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director TRC.