Registered with inventory no. 388 in the records of the Transylvania Museum of Ethnography, the head dress (“broboada”) chosen for this week’s artifact is a piece of traditional folk costume from the Jiu Valley area, worn by women as a piece for covering the head.

The piece is made of cotton, decorated on both ends and finished with lace (cipcă). The lace is handmade, from black cotton and it’s decorated with yellow silk thread, green and purple wool and white cotton. The decorative motifs are geometric and stylized floral. The ornament is sewn in holbein stitch (double running stitch) with black cotton and filled with red, peach, yellow, blue, green and purple wool. The cotton cloth is industrial, having the fringe with little holes. The ends of the piece are embroidered differently. On the richer end, the black embroidery seems to be made with thin wool.

The head dress comes from Urcani village, Hunedoara county and it entered the museum’s collections in 1923. The artifact is 300-cm long and 100-cm wide.

Text: Flavia Paula Stoica – MET museographer

Photo: George Ciupag – MET museographer, photo-video, digital image processing