The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 13, 2024
Headdress (beniqa)
1800s
Overall: 210.8 x 17.1 cm (83 x 6 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade 1916.1221
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
Slender gray lines made in pencil or chalk trace out unstitched designs on this elaborate ritual cap.Description
Beniqa were stylish headdresses that women wore when visiting the hammam (steam bath). The linen fabric absorbed the damp from their wet hair. With its gold and silver metal thread, shimmering spangles, and brightly colored threads forming flowers and vines, this beniqa was a ceremonial garment worn for the ritual bath before a Jewish woman’s wedding; it was also part of her dowry. After toweling off her hair, a woman made two braids, which she would then twist into the cap’s fabric and tie on her head, with the gold-fringed ends trailing down.- 1916Jeptha Homer Wade II [1857-1926] and Ellen Garretson Wade [1859-1917], Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art1916-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
- {{cite web|title=Headdress (beniqa)|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=13 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1221