A young woman preparing ‘gözleme’ (a kind of pancakes).

She wears a black woollen apron, and a festive blouse (not quite in accordance with her work), made of silk and kilabdan (yellow copper wire-wrapped yarn, looking somewhat like gold thread, but less expensive). The most prominent production centers of these fabrics (called ‘şib’) were Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir and Elazığ, in East-Anatolia. The latter city was specialised in ‘şib’ on purple ground, like the one on the picture.
This kind of blouse is generally named ‘cepken’; its borders are adorned with gold lace.
This piece probably dates from the first half of the 20th century.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: The Kavak Collection of Anatolian Costumes, Antwerpen/Belgium
& ‘Atlaslar Atlası’ – Hülya Tezcan (Yapı ve Kredi Koleksiyonları, Istanbul 1993).