Man’s Turban Cover (kavuk örtüsü) with Design of Floral Sprays

This embroidered textile was made to cover a "kavuk"-style turban, a formal type of turban that was never unwound. When not worn, the turban was kept on a stand and protected with a special cover, such as this one. These covers are square in shape with a circular design in the middle. Turbans were worn in Ottoman society as status symbols; a turban’s shape and form indicated the rank and profession of the man who wore it. In 1952, the Museum received an important gift of Turkish embroideries from Beatrice Elliott Lindell Cook (1875–1953), a native of St. Louis who spent her married life in Surrey, England. The two-volume publication of Mrs. Cook’s collection in 1935 by A. J. B. Wace, "Mediterranean and Near Eastern Embroideries from the Collection of Mrs. F. H. Cook," still remains a standard reference work for textiles from the eastern Mediterranean region.