Algerian Turban Cover
Ottoman Algeria, 18th century
Linen embroidered with silk thread
Linen embroidered with silk thread
79 cm by 72 cm [check]
A6124
Further images
rovenance: From the collection of a French château.
Though Algeria had a tradition of embroidery dating back centuries, it was only during the late 17th and 18th centuries that this distinctive polychrome design emerged, resulting both from the influence of the Ottoman Imperial Workshop during the Regency of Algiers (1516–1830) and the fashions from the great Italian ateliers.
At the end of the Middle Ages, a silk industry was created in Algeria by Muslims who had been expelled from Spain during the Reconquista. Following a visit to Cherchell, the Andalusi diplomat Leo Africanus said that the former inhabitants of Granada had ‘devoted themselves to silk-making’.[1] At the beginning of the 17th century, an embroidery craze took hold of the Topkapı.[2] This soon spread to the Ottoman ruling elite in Algeria, who commissioned embroideries of their own from indigenous artisans. The preponderance of reds and blues in designs of this period may even stem from the colour of Ottoman army uniforms.[3]
This textile is embroidered with a pattern known as ma’alka.[4] The design features familiar motifs from Ottoman art, including carnations, prunus blossom, and saz leaves. Each element is outlined in black stem stitch. The arrangement of the floral elements in palmettes and pomegranate shapes resembles the patterns on the Italian renaissance silks which were so desired by Ottoman sultans. A caftan which purportedly belonged to Sultan Murad IV, with similar motifs albeit in gold and white, is housed in the Topkapı Palace Museum (accession no. 13/838).[5] It was made in Italy in the 16th century. A portrait of Orhan Çelebi in the Munich Pinakothek (accession no. 2236) by a follower of Veronese in the 16th century shows a fabric dominated by red, blue, and yellow with large palmettes, likely made in Italy.
Embroidered textiles with this repertoire of designs served the purpose of fashion and furnishing in Algerian society. Their use can sometimes be determined by their shape. For example, textiles with unembroidered areas can be identified as headwear: narrow textiles with a thin strip of plain linen at the centre are beniqa, to be used at the hammam to wrap up wet hair; and rectangular panels with an untouched circle at the centre are used as headscarves (tanchifa). Large, square panels like this one were used as turban covers. Turbans were the traditional headgear of Ottoman men. The materials, colours, and elaborate patterns of winding could all be used to identify a man's social status or profession.[6] As such, the turban itself was treated with great respect, having its own shelf and textile covering when removed.[7]
A turban cover identified as 18th-century Algerian is in the Walters Art Museum (accession no. 83.178). It has a similar composition with a large red rosette at the centre, surrounded by smaller alternating red and blue rosettes.
[1] ‘Sont adonnés au métier de la soye’. Jean-Léon l’Africain. Description de l’Afrique, A. Epaulard (trans.) Paris: 1956. In Mehadji, Najia. La trace et le souffle. Paris: Somology éditions d’art, 2018, p. 155.
[2] Roux, Jean-Paul (ed.) L’Islam dans les collections nationales. Paris: Réunion des Musées nationaux, 1977, p. 229–230.
[3] Radia, Bouadjina. ‘Broderie d’Alger: Un Entrecroisement d’art et d’histoire’, La revue d’études archéologiques 20.1 (2022) pp 479–492: p. 484.
[4] Radia. Op. Cit., p. 483.
[5] Pictured in De Margerie, Anne (ed.) Topkapi à Versailles: Trésors de la Cour ottomane. Paris: Réunion des Musées nationaux 1999, p. 93, cat. 47.
[6] Turban stand in Ottoman rococo style’, Weltmuseum Wien, retrieved online via https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/object/?detailID=462583&offset=0&lv=#object-data on 11.03.2025; ‘Turban stand in Ottoman rococo style’, Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2025, retrieved online via https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;at;Mus23;23;en on 11.03.2025.
[7] ‘Man’s Turban Cover’, St Louis Art Museum, retrieved online via https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/586/ on 11.03.2025.
Though Algeria had a tradition of embroidery dating back centuries, it was only during the late 17th and 18th centuries that this distinctive polychrome design emerged, resulting both from the influence of the Ottoman Imperial Workshop during the Regency of Algiers (1516–1830) and the fashions from the great Italian ateliers.
At the end of the Middle Ages, a silk industry was created in Algeria by Muslims who had been expelled from Spain during the Reconquista. Following a visit to Cherchell, the Andalusi diplomat Leo Africanus said that the former inhabitants of Granada had ‘devoted themselves to silk-making’.[1] At the beginning of the 17th century, an embroidery craze took hold of the Topkapı.[2] This soon spread to the Ottoman ruling elite in Algeria, who commissioned embroideries of their own from indigenous artisans. The preponderance of reds and blues in designs of this period may even stem from the colour of Ottoman army uniforms.[3]
This textile is embroidered with a pattern known as ma’alka.[4] The design features familiar motifs from Ottoman art, including carnations, prunus blossom, and saz leaves. Each element is outlined in black stem stitch. The arrangement of the floral elements in palmettes and pomegranate shapes resembles the patterns on the Italian renaissance silks which were so desired by Ottoman sultans. A caftan which purportedly belonged to Sultan Murad IV, with similar motifs albeit in gold and white, is housed in the Topkapı Palace Museum (accession no. 13/838).[5] It was made in Italy in the 16th century. A portrait of Orhan Çelebi in the Munich Pinakothek (accession no. 2236) by a follower of Veronese in the 16th century shows a fabric dominated by red, blue, and yellow with large palmettes, likely made in Italy.
Embroidered textiles with this repertoire of designs served the purpose of fashion and furnishing in Algerian society. Their use can sometimes be determined by their shape. For example, textiles with unembroidered areas can be identified as headwear: narrow textiles with a thin strip of plain linen at the centre are beniqa, to be used at the hammam to wrap up wet hair; and rectangular panels with an untouched circle at the centre are used as headscarves (tanchifa). Large, square panels like this one were used as turban covers. Turbans were the traditional headgear of Ottoman men. The materials, colours, and elaborate patterns of winding could all be used to identify a man's social status or profession.[6] As such, the turban itself was treated with great respect, having its own shelf and textile covering when removed.[7]
A turban cover identified as 18th-century Algerian is in the Walters Art Museum (accession no. 83.178). It has a similar composition with a large red rosette at the centre, surrounded by smaller alternating red and blue rosettes.
[1] ‘Sont adonnés au métier de la soye’. Jean-Léon l’Africain. Description de l’Afrique, A. Epaulard (trans.) Paris: 1956. In Mehadji, Najia. La trace et le souffle. Paris: Somology éditions d’art, 2018, p. 155.
[2] Roux, Jean-Paul (ed.) L’Islam dans les collections nationales. Paris: Réunion des Musées nationaux, 1977, p. 229–230.
[3] Radia, Bouadjina. ‘Broderie d’Alger: Un Entrecroisement d’art et d’histoire’, La revue d’études archéologiques 20.1 (2022) pp 479–492: p. 484.
[4] Radia. Op. Cit., p. 483.
[5] Pictured in De Margerie, Anne (ed.) Topkapi à Versailles: Trésors de la Cour ottomane. Paris: Réunion des Musées nationaux 1999, p. 93, cat. 47.
[6] Turban stand in Ottoman rococo style’, Weltmuseum Wien, retrieved online via https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/object/?detailID=462583&offset=0&lv=#object-data on 11.03.2025; ‘Turban stand in Ottoman rococo style’, Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2025, retrieved online via https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;at;Mus23;23;en on 11.03.2025.
[7] ‘Man’s Turban Cover’, St Louis Art Museum, retrieved online via https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/586/ on 11.03.2025.
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