Ladies' Cap
This cap is intricately worked in coiled copper and silver-wrapped thread, sewn scrolling over a canvas batting. The canvas in the spaces between the metalwork has been cut or drawn out, leaving an openwork effect to reveal the wearer's hair. Traditionally, young Croatian women wore their long hair in two braids coiled up onto the back of the head. Sometimes, a finely pleated white cotton kerchief would be worn over the hat. A rear flap modestly protects the nape of the wearer's neck.
The interior label of the cap suggests that it dates to the period immediately after the country of Yugoslavia was so named in 1929– the country itself only in existence since 1918 when the "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" was created following the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War 1. At the time the cap was made and purchased, it was presented as "Yugoslavian"– a melting pot combination of the disparate cultural and religious practices of the regions of (now independent) Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The interior label of the cap suggests that it dates to the period immediately after the country of Yugoslavia was so named in 1929– the country itself only in existence since 1918 when the "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" was created following the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War 1. At the time the cap was made and purchased, it was presented as "Yugoslavian"– a melting pot combination of the disparate cultural and religious practices of the regions of (now independent) Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ladies' Cap
- Date: ca. 1930
- Culture: Croatian
- Medium: Wire frame, canvas, coiled copper metallic thread and silvered wrapped metal thread
- Dimensions: [no dimensions available]
- Classification: Accessory-Headwear
- Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. W. Whitewright Watson, 1939
- Object Number: C.I.39.127.2
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Croatian
20th century
Croatian
20th century
Croatian
1900–1940
Croatian
20th century
Edgar Degas
A. A. Hébrard
1922 (cast), 2018 (tutu)
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