2018.37.205

Collection type

Object

Description

Wooden beater for indigo dyeing.

Long description

Wooden beater for indigo dyeing. A rectangular block of wood with handle. The surface of the beater is scored and uneven. Remnants of indigo dye remain on the surface. [ThW [Multaka Project] 27/1/2021]

Geographical reference

Egypt

Africa > Northern Africa > Egypt

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Other owner Hanifi Muhammad

Field collector Jenny Balfour-Paul

PRM source Jenny Balfour-Paul

Date / Period

Before 1989

Date collected

1989

Acquisition information

Donated: 03/03/2016

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Process Carved, Process Split, Process Beaten

Dimensions

Length x Width 460 x 110 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 2018.37.205

Research and responses

By the 1980s, former indigo dyeshops in Egypt were using cheaper imported synthetic black dye. Jenny Balfour-Paul discusses the dyeshop of Hanifi Muhammad, the owner of this indigo beater, in Indigo in the Arab World: "In the mid 1970s there were still three or four indigo dyeshops in one street in Luxor, but by 1988 just one small dyeshop was left, now using black and dark green dye. The Classical stone column against which the cloth used to be beaten by pairs of beaters, and a wooden beater itself, were still in situ. The dyer, Hanifi Muhammad, a Muslim, learnt his trade from his forbears, and claimed he had to forego even synthetic indigo in the 1970s not only for reasons of economy but also because the big pottery dye vats became unobtainable..." Balfour-Paul, J., 1997. Indigo in the Arab World. Richmond: Curzon, pp.101-103. [JMC 13/10/2022]

For a photograph of Hanifi Muhammad in his dyeshop with two indigo beaters please see 2018.137.1160, and for a man's sirwal dyed by him in 1985 see 2018.37.39. [Joanna Cole 13/10/2022]

Search terms: Tool, Textile, Beater, Dye