Producer unknown to us
Head rope
Asia, Iraq, Baghdad
Mid-20th century
Wool, hemp, fabric; lathed, coiled
Wolf-Dieter Seiwert (ethnologist) acquired this head rope during a trip to Baghdad in 1975
Purchased by the Museum from Seiwert in 1985
WAs 2819
Such head ropes (“aqal”) were a common accessory, typical of Arab men in Iraq and beyond. Dense, black, long-fiber wool threads are bound closely around a core of brown hemp twine. The head rope tapers at both ends, which wind out on either side into a twisted black cord with a tassel. Wolf-Dieter Seiwert (*1945) acquired this head rope in Baghdad in 1975.
Frank Usbeck