The negative on glass was made by Romulus Vuia, in 1923, in Uricani village, Hunedoara county and it presents the image of two women, one of them is on horseback, and the other one holds the bridle. The horse has three rows of woolen knapsacks, with checks and horizontal stripes, attached to the wooden saddle (“tarniță”). Women are wearing traditional folk costumes specific to the Jiu Valley area: their hair is combed with a path on the middle, braided in two thick tails, curled under their ears, enriched with two artificial woolen tails (pletari”); over the hair, she wears a “tindeu” - a thick cotton towel, woven and decorated at one end and finished with lace (“ciptă”); white shirt, Carpathian type, made of home-woven cotton cloth with red or black stripes from place to place. The wide sleeves start from a narrow collar, decorated with geometric motifs and it ends with welts wrinkled through seams forming a bracelet. The edge of the welt is adorned with a row of stitches and lace (“ciptă”).
The shirt’s ornamentation, with a sober chromatic, is placed on the collar and on the sleeve. The geometric patterns are grouped on the shoulder in a horizontal stripe (“umeraș”), from which starts another short row of seams. On their necks, women wear “lățițare” made of small, polychrome beads, doubled by large Murano beads. Over the shirt, the woman holding the horse by the bridle wears a dark felt vest, decorated with floral motifs on the edges. The white laps are covered, in front, with a dark woven apron, with ornamentation placed at the bottom, consisting of selected geometric motifs and horizontal stripes, with the edge framed with lace. At the back, there is a dark “catrință” (apron) woven in horizontal stripes (“vărgi”), between which points are inserted. On their feet, women wear woolen socks (“colțuni”) and leather sandals with long straps, wrapped over their ankles, or boots.
The negative, registered with title “Peasant woman on horseback”, with inventory no. 459, is made on a glass support, in the dry gelatin technique, having the dimensions of 9 cm x 12 cm.
Photo: MET archive
