PhotographAA-0015

Nestorian (Assyrian) woman spinning wool with a hand spindle

Place

Persia · today Iran

Date

19th century

A woman in a headscarf, embroidered jacket and striped skirt spins wool on a drop spindle, holding the raw wool aloft, in a courtyard with a wooden balustrade; possibly the same woman and courtyard as in the butter-making slide (AA-0019). Newton & Co lantern slide no. 53 from the series "The Persians, Kurds, and Nestorians, their manners and customs", attributed by the Nelson Collection to Ernest Hoeltzer, late 19th century; D'Allemagne's 1911 book captions the same image "Femme Arménienne filant la laine" (Armenian woman spinning wool).