SILK YEMENİ (KERCHIEF)

Silk Weaves are woven in the places of silkworm breeding in Anatolia, especially in Bursa, İstanbul, Hatay, Tire and Ödemiş districts of İzmir, Amasya, and Diyarbakır, and in their surroundings. Silk weaving continued by being developed in the Ottoman Empire, as it was neighbor to the Anatolian Seljuk State and the Byzantine Empire. In the 16th-17th centuries, during the classical period of the Ottoman Empire, silk weaving progressed further. Towards the middle of the 16th century, it was developed along with the silk weaving studios established in İstanbul to meet the needs of the Ottoman Palace, silk woven products were created using the patterns prepared by the muralists according to the understanding of art of the period, state records about weaving were kept, and because of the use of precious metals such as gold and silver, all weaving processes were controlled. It is understood from the records of the customs books that Ottoman textiles were among the important export products of the 17th century Ottoman Empire. Silk Weaves are woven with basic weaves such as plain, twill, and atlas by using silk in warp and weft threads and without any pattern. In the samples to be used as yemeni (kerchief), plain weave was used. Colors such as cream, blue, purple, red, violet/dark red, yellow, orange, green, brown, and black were used. Yemenis have been an important clothing item in Turkish culture and they have been used by men and women. The ones preserved in the Beylerbeyi Sabancı Technical (Continuation) Institute Museum are in cream, green, and orange and are decorated with point lace.