The biggest problem is that the light tan material looks like it's foundation material added to support the historical fabric, so I don't believe the angel wing at the back is part of the actual garment.
There most probably is some form of internal tie to hold the inner flap in place.
As for the sleeves, your guess is as good as mine. The extant garment doesn't appear to extend up high enough, so it looks like the museum has done a "safe" approximation to give the public a feel for what it may have looked like.
There are a couple of coats in Russia that you can look at to see how it might go together, as well as some Chinese coats, which this piece reminds me of. Other sources that could give you an idea of appearance is pictorial evidence from that place and time period.
richardcullinanau wrote: The extant garment doesn't appear to extend up high enough, so it looks like the museum has done a "safe" approximation Richard
NOOOO!!!! Really?? No...
I was under the impression that the other material is/was an outer layer. That makes me really really sad. But I guess you have to learn things like this as you start to research things.
Do you have links to these Russian coats?
They are extant pieces, and not reconstructions, correct?
You can also find some other examples in:
Arab dress: a short history : from the dawn of Islam to modern times
By Yedida Kalfon Stillman, Norman A. Stillman
and
A newly excavated caftan from the Northern Caucasus
by Krisna Riboud in "Textile Museum Journal Vol IV No 3 1976"
richardcullinanau wrote:You can also find some other examples in: Arab dress: a short history : from the dawn of Islam to modern times By Yedida Kalfon Stillman, Norman A. Stillman
This is not Arab style at all ...unless the article has comparables from Caucas.
A newly excavated caftan from the Northern Caucasus by Krisna Riboud in "Textile Museum Journal Vol IV No 3 1976"
Precisely.
That coat is comparable to finds from Moschevaya Balka and Podorvanaya Balka in Caucas.
Do a search on this forum and you should find where I posted the pattern for, if I remember correctly, a particular Podorvanaya Balka Kaftan. That is the most complex of the lot with the biggest set of gussets of various sorts.
What you are seeing as "wings" are just folds and possibly/probably gussets to expand the back.
The basic look is a close fit in the body with a generous skirting.
Ahh, there's actually a couple of different possible styles in the references I gave.
The Met Museum one with the double slit at the back is the only example I can think of like that outside of the Caucasus caftans. Like the Met museum one they're also fur lined so it's not as big a stretch as some think. Especially in light of the geographic proximity, and the fur trade between the two regions.
The Viking pattern is pretty much the same as a standard front-opening Qaba, but this one seems to be designed to cross over, which would make it a Qaba Turki since it's from right to left. In that case it's more likely to be similar to the Chinese gowns of the period, which is not something I've ever explored so I'm coming up short on references. (I've only looked at the later Qaba Tartari style which crosses the other way)
The Chinese link is again due to the extensive trade links.
In the end it's still guess work since it looks like only the lower half of the garment has survived.
