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Source Description
Covered with symbolic decorations, this multitone silk garment beautified and protected its wearer. The <em>khamsah</em> (خمسة)—an open five-fingered hand—figures prominently as a cream-colored appliqué. The khamsah deflected or absorbed <em>al-'ayn</em> (العين)—the evil eye—as did the appliquéd mirrors, shielding the wearer from many varieties of harm. New research connects this garment to an entry in museum founder J. H. Wade’s 1881–1900 travel purchase notebook: “Kalifa’s gown emb[roidered] on purple silk.” A caliph (or khalifah) is a leader of a Caliphate (Islamic state) or an Islamic religious group. Whether this was indeed a caliph’s gown is a point of future research.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
95782
label
Garment
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
95782
contentType
object
title
Garment
description
Covered with symbolic decorations, this multitone silk garment beautified and protected its wearer. The <em>khamsah</em> (خمسة)—an open five-fingered hand—figures prominently as a cream-colored appliqué. The khamsah deflected or absorbed <em>al-'ayn</em> (العين)—the evil eye—as did the appliquéd mirrors, shielding the wearer from many varieties of harm. New research connects this garment to an entry in museum founder J. H. Wade’s 1881–1900 travel purchase notebook: “Kalifa’s gown emb[roidered] on purple silk.” A caliph (or khalifah) is a leader of a Caliphate (Islamic state) or an Islamic religious group. Whether this was indeed a caliph’s gown is a point of future research.
date
c. 1890s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79477967
genreSpecific
Garment
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 132.1 x 63.5 x 30.5 cm (52 x 25 x 12 in.)
cul
Africa, North Africa, Egypt, Aswan, unidentified makers
accession
1916.1472
Source extras
tec
Silk, mirrored glass
tombstone
Garment, c. 1890s. Africa, North Africa, Egypt, Aswan, unidentified makers. Silk, mirrored glass; overall: 132.1 x 63.5 x 30.5 cm (52 x 25 x 12 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, 1916.1472
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
Folds and old stitch lines on the sides of this garment indicate that it was taken in at one time, making it shorter and suggesting that more than one person wore it.
creditline
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:08:54.298000
sourceId
95782
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Silk, mirrored glass
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
883751dd6b85c030