PhotographAA-0019

Nestorian (Assyrian) women churning butter in a goatskin

Place

Persia · today Iran

Date

19th century

Two women in headscarves, embroidered jackets and long skirts work a goatskin churn slung from a wooden tripod in a courtyard. Newton & Co lantern slide no. 52 from the series "The Persians, Kurds, and Nestorians, their manners and customs", attributed by the Nelson Collection to Ernest Hoeltzer, late 19th century; published in The Living Races of Mankind (1901) as "Butter-making in goat-skin Churns (Nestorians, Armenia)" and by D'Allemagne (1911) as Armenian women making butter.