Palestine
Taqsireh (Woman's Jacket)
About 1930
Silk velvet with couched silk and metal-wrapped silk threads, satin stitch, and straight stitch embroidery, and cotton lining
22 1/8 x 36 3/8 inches (56.198 x 92.393 centimeters)
Gift of The Reverend and Mrs. Van S. Merle-Smith, Jr., 1993
1993.028.004
Short-sleeved embroidered jackets were part of Palestinian women's costumes on festive occasions, such as weddings. This is an example of a type that was made and worn in Bethlehem in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It would have been worn over a long-sleeved dress that was adorned with similar embroidery. Inspired by military wear, earlier versions of the jacket were made of broadcloth, but by the middle of the 1920s brides preferred the more luxurious silk velvet.