2018.137.2279

Collection type

Photograph

Description

Two elderly men at Bayt Abud workshop beat indigo-dyed cloth with heavy wooden mallets to make it stiff and shiny. They each wear a white, indigo-stained loincloth and kneel on a basketry mat, with the cloth laid over a log between them.

Geographical reference

Yemen

Asia > Western Asia > Yemen

Al Hudaydah Governorate; Zabid

Person

Expedition or compiler Jenny Balfour-Paul

Photographer Jenny Balfour-Paul

PRM source Jenny Balfour-Paul

Date / Period

Date of photograph: 1989

Acquisition information

Donated: 14/05/2018

Photographic process

Black & White

Dimensions

Image dimension 35 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 2018.137.2279

Research and responses

The town of Zabid in the Tihama region of Yemen had been an important centre of the indigo dyeing industry from Medieval times, and even in the 1940s there were still over a hundred dyeing establishments in the town. By the Balfour-Pauls’ first trip there in 1983 only two of these remained – Bayt Muhammad Ali Abud and Bayt Ahmad Sa’d al-Hakami – and by 1989 Bayt Abud was the sole survivor. It was a desire to record the dyeing industry in this area that led Jenny Balfour-Paul to pursue her in-depth research into indigo. Balfour-Paul, J., 1997. Indigo in the Arab World. Richmond: Curzon, p.90. [JMC 18/08/2020]

This part of the process, undertaken after the dyeing with the indigo dye vat had been completed, is described by Balfour-Paul: "Finally, yet more neat indigo paste was rubbed into the cloth with a towelling brush...before the beaters, elderly men working in pairs, beat the cloth with heavy wooden mallets (made of tamarind and weighing at least 18 kilos) until it shone... The beaters had an array of mallets at their disposal, chosing [sic] the heaviest ones when feeling most energetic." Balfour-Paul, J., 1997. Indigo in the Arab World. Richmond: Curzon, pp.91-92. [JMC 18/08/2020]

For a wooden indigo beater with broken handle, collected by Jenny Balfour-Paul from Bayt Muhammad Ali Abud in 1983, see 2018.37.102. [JMC 18/08/2020]

Associated publications

This photograph is published as Plate 9(a) in Indigo in the Arab World by Jenny Balfour-Paul. The caption reads: "Beating the indigo-dyed cloth with heavy wooden mallets to make it stiff and shiny, Bayt 'Abud, Zabid, Yemen; December 1983..." Balfour-Paul, J., 1997. Indigo in the Arab World. Richmond: Curzon. [JMC 12/11/2020] This photograph is reproduced in black and white on p. 133 of Jenny Balfour-Paul's Indigo: Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans. The caption reads "Beating indigo-dyed cloth with heavy wooden mallets to make it stiff and shiny. Zabid, Yemen, 1989." Balfour-Paul, J., 2011. Indigo: Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans. London: British Museum. [JMC 12/11/2020]

Search terms: Industry, Textile