The traditional costumes of the Mongols, those fascinating pastoralists of the plains of Central Asia, are magnificent and historically interesting expressions of Mongol culture. This book on Mongol garments is a product of The Carlsberg Foundation’s Nomad Research Project, which draws on the rich Central Asian and Middle Eastern ethnographic collections of Danish museums, as well as on recent social and cultural anthropological studies of nomadic groups in Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf and North Africa. This volume is an inclusive and systematic account of the exquisite garments from nearly all the twenty Mongol tribes collected by H. Haslund-Christensen in 1936-1937 and 1938-1939, now in the possession of the National Museum of Denmark and Musee de l’Homme of Paris.
The work deals with the materials used, the Mongolian choice of colours, special features in the making of clothes and of decoration. Special emphasis is lent to a careful examination of the cut, aptly illustrated with drawings, and the development from simple to more complicated forms.
Through an innovative interpretation of the characteristics of the costumes and the cultural influences on these from Tibet and China over time, the work is a major contribution to the comparative study of costume far beyond the borders of Mongolia. It is a treasure for anyone interested in the ancient cultures of Central Asia.
Contents: Body-garments – Description – Analysis - Hats – Description – Analysis – Footwear – Description – Analysis – Notes – List of illustrations – List of inventory numbers and their catalogue numbers – Bibliography – Transcription of Mongolian characters - Map
Published in 1993 in the series The Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project.
Hardcover with dust jacket. 284 pages. 240 illustrations – 57 in colour - and a map.
Dr. Henny Harald Hansen has been a longtime research fellow at the Department of Ethnography at the National Museum of Denmark. She has published numerous books and articles within her field of interest: the history and culture of garments. Henny Harald Hansen has conducted fieldwork in the Near and Middle East, pioneering studies of Muslim women’s conditions. Among her works are the monographs: The Kurdish Woman’s life (1961) and Investigations in a Shi’a Village in Bahrain (1968)
