The
embroidery :
The embroidery is with no doubt one of the most
important traits of Morocco’s craftsman’s trade, even
if it isn’t promoted enough. However each town has its technique,
and the government by means of the ministry of craftsman’s
trade settled schools in order to teach this art. The traits of
each town are respected, but is using modern techniques. The origins
of the Morocco’s embroidery are very ancient and it is difficult
to precise exactly the age when it was used for the first time.
At the beginning this art was used particularly to decorate the
Ottoman Coran, during the Almohads dynasty.
| The embroidery was finally considered
as an art and used to decorate cloths and other objects during
the kingdom of Yacoub el Mansour (1184-1199). Even a school
was created in order to insure the needs of the palace and
of the high civil servants. It continued to be used largely
under the Merinids dynasty (1258-1554), particularly under
the king Abou el-Hasssan (1331-1351). However, the embroidery
developed under the Allaouits who began to run in 1664 (the
actual king Mohammed VI is part of this dynasty). |
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Each town began to develop his
own characteristics. schools were established in each town
such as Fes, Meknes, Salé, Rabat, Azemmour and Marrakech.
The embroidery became part of the ordinary life, largely used
even nowadays, particularly for the decoration of the wedding
costumes.
The actual textile vocabulary uses many words of Arabic origin,
for example morocco bags, cotton fabrics, muslin, mohair,
satin, taffeta, moiré, etc. |
And also certain colours come from Arabic: saffron, Lila, orange,
cramoisi. Each region, even each town has its own style, knowing
to preserve it: the cover Atlas differs from that of Haouz by its
dimensions, texture, and arrangement of motives. Besides the embroidery
of Rabat and Salé has its particularities and however the
two are separated only by the river Bou Regreg.
The second
trait is the continuity. Indeed, if we consider the actual
manufacturing of leather in Sahara, it is not very different
of that who existed thousands of years before, concerning
the materials (support, pigments), the technical and aesthetic
aspects. The material is fundamentally the same in the north
of Morocc as well as in the south, at east as well as at
west. It is the embroidery that makes the difference between
the regions. All happens as each region of the country must
proudly exhibit its particular contributions, to vault the
talent and the fingering of its women. Each region desire
to seal its mark, even if finally it is a common work. |
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The embroidery in Morocco is this infinite use of decoration that
surrounds the people from birth to death. On the sail covering the
new-born child, on the furnishing pieces cushions covered with silk,
or brocade on the bed, or even on the floor, on the bride’s
sale, on the table covers and on the cloths, on the curtains suspended
at the doors, on the catafalque which will cover the body to eternity.
As the geography that makes Morocco’s life for such a long
time, this art ignores the uniformity. We are always surprised to
discover the infinite faces and its astonishing varieties, taking
us far from the ancient Fes to the Phoenician Rab, the andalousian
Tetouan, Berber Meknes or oriental Oujda. The cotton, the flax or
the white muslin, the cushions, and the sit covers with pictures
of flourished gardens are all polychrome and cheerfulness.
In Morocco. The embroidery is reserved to the women who work the
cotton, the flax, the silk, the stamen, the wool or even the poplin
and the nylon. They work in little groups of women or girls, or
traders. They work the sail on wood frames. |
