Textile Art Department Barber’s Apron Turkey, Ottoman Period, mid 1600s silk embroidery on cotton, 47 x 66 inches (119.4 x 167.6 cm) Gift of Bj Averitt 1996.340

During the Ottoman Period (1290-1922), ceremony was an important part of daily life in the Sultan’s palace. Each day the court barbers would prepare the Sultan for his daily shaving ritual by covering his clothes with an apron like this. The court embroidery workshops that made the aprons (and matching towels) for sultans and courtiers, also made sets of slightly less high quality that were presented by the Sultan to deserving men who came to the palace for royal audiences.


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