A former indigo dyer demonstrates his old technique in an Aleppo dyeshop. He appears to dip an indigo-dyed cloth into a large stone vat.

Collection type: Photograph
Description: A former indigo dyer demonstrates his old technique in an Aleppo dyeshop. He appears to dip an indigo-dyed cloth into a large stone vat.
Geographical reference: Syria
Asia > Western Asia > Syria; Aleppo Governorate; Aleppo
Person: Expedition or compiler Jenny Balfour-Paul; Photographer Jenny Balfour-Paul; PRM source Jenny Balfour-Paul
Date / Period: Date of photograph: 1985
Acquisition information: Donated: 14/05/2018
Photographic process: Transparency Colour
Dimensions: Image dimension 35 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 2018.137.1045
Research and responses: Jenny Balfour-Paul writes in Indigo in the Arab World that indigo dyeing in the Levant had completely died out by the 1980s, although she adds it was easy to visualise the former prominence of the indigo-dyeing establishments of Aleppo and Damascus during this 1985 visit. She writes that "In the city of Aleppo, where as many as sixty dyeworks were recorded just before the First World War, there were numerous dyeing areas, the most important extending along the entire length of the Suq as-Sabbaghin. In one surviving dyeshop in 1985 could be seen an outsize stone vat, probably used for soaking the cloth..." Balfour-Paul, J., 1997. Indigo in the Arab World. Richmond: Curzon, p.99. [JMC 07/09/2020]

Search terms: Industry, Textile

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