Sharbush Explained
The Sharbush or Harbush, Sarposh, Serpush (Arabic: شَربوش|sharbūsh, σαρπούζιν, Turkish: Serpuş) probably derived from Persian word Serpush,[1] which means "headdress".[2] was a special Turkic military furred hat, worn in Central Asia and the Middle East in the Middle Ages. It appears prominently in the miniatures depicting Badr al-Din Lu'lu' (ruled 1234–1259).[3] It was a stiff cap of the military class, with a triangular front which was sometimes addorned with a metal plaque. It was sometimes supplemented with a small kerchief which formed a small turban, named takhfifa.[4] The wearing of the Sharbūsh was one of the key graphical and sartorial elements to differentiate Turkic figures from Arab ones in medieval Middle-Eastern miniatures.
The Sharbush could vary in size and shape, sometimes taking huge proportions, as in the depiction of the emir in the frontispiece of the 1237 Maqamat of al-Hariri. The shape of the sharbush seems to have varied depending on geographical regions:
- The sharbush of Artuqid manuscripts (example) has a very tall cap behind the headplate and the usage of fur around the rim is limited;
- The Seljuk sharbush as seen on Persian ceramics, or on objects from Mosul such as the Blacas ewer, or in Jazira and Syria manuscripts had a much lower cap, almost hidden behind the band of fur surrounding the head and the frontal plate;
- The frontispiece of the Baghdad Schefer Maqamat shows another sharbush, consisting of a tall mass of fur, hiding the cap from view.[5]
The sharbush headgear was a rallying sign for Saladin, and he wore it on his Mayyafariqin coinage.[6] [7] When Henry II, Count of Champagne, king of Jerusalem, tried to build a friendly relationship with Saladin, he requested the gift of a qabā robe and a sharbūsh hat, which he wore in Acre.[8] [9] [10]
The Sharbush was also a symbol of investitute under the Egyptian Mamluks, as it was part of the khil'a given to an amir on the occasion of his accession.[7] The sharbush was worn by high-ranking officers of the Ayyubid and Bahri Mamluk period.[11] [12]
In Mamluk Egypt, the wearing of the Sharbush was banned in 1382.[13]
See also
References
Works cited
Notes and References
- https://books.google.iq/books?id=ro--tXw_hxMC&pg=PA891&dq=sharbush+persian&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKlsObxt2FAxWxBdsEHXr0BuQQ6wF6BAgKEAU#v=onepage&q=sharbush&f=false E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam
- Book: مجيد, رعد مطر . أثر فنون عصر النهضة على التصوير الإسلامي : دراسة تاريخية تحليلية = Impact of the Renaissance Arts Age on Al Islamic Painting : Analytical Historical Study . 2015-01-01 . Al Manhal . 9796500168913 . 212 . ar.
- Rice . D. S. . The Aghānī Miniatures and Religious Painting in Islam . The Burlington Magazine . 1953 . 95 . 601 . 128–135 . 0007-6287.
- Book: Yedida Kalfon Stillman, Norman A. Stillman. Arab Dress: A Short History : from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times. 2003. Brill. Leiden, Netherlands. 67. 9789004113732. The normal headgear of the military class was a stiff cap with a triangular front which in some instances appears to have been a metallic plaque. It was sometimes trimmed with fur and was called a sharbUsh (see PI. 23 which depicts a Saljuq atabeg wearing a sharbUsh and tiriiz qabii' and also PI. 19), and sometimes it had a small kerchief bound around it to form a sort of turban which was designated a takhfifa. The sharbush was absolutely de rigueur for an amir..
- Ward . Rachel . Evidence for a School of Painting at the Artuqid Court . Oxfod Studies in Islamic Art, Vol. 1, Pp. 69-83 . 1 January 1985 . 77 .
- Book: Nicolle . David . Saladin . 20 December 2011 . Bloomsbury Publishing . 978-1-84908-318-8 . 26 . en . This copper dirham, minted at Mayyafariqin in 587 AH (1190/01 AD) shows Saladin wearing the sharbush hat of a Saljuq-style Turkish ruler..
- Book: Lesley Baker . Patricia . A History of Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East . 1988 . 10.25501/SOAS.00033676 . SOAS, London University . 119 . By the end of the 12th century, the wearing of the sharbush demonstrated support for Salah al-Din. Under the later Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and Syria it formed part of the khil'a given to an amir on his investiture..
- Book: Gabrieli . Francesco . Arab Historians of the Crusades . University of California Press . 242 . en . When the King of England left for home, Henry sent a messenger to Saladin to conciliate him and win his goodwill. He asked him for the gift of a robe of honor, and said: "You know that to put on the qabā and the sharbūsh is not approved among us, but I would put them on if they came from you, because of the regard I have for you." Saladin sent him sumtuous robes of honour, among them a qaba and a sharbush, and he wore them in Acre. .
- Book: Mayer . Leo Ary . Mamluk Costume: A Survey . 1952 . A. Kundig . 27–28 . Moreover, the wearing of the sharbish and qaba was considered so characeristic for a Saracenic amire that even a Crusader was prepared to don it in order to show some sort of friendship (if not allegiance) to Saladin..
- Book: Kedar . Benjamin Z. . Phillips . Jonathan . Riley-Smith . Jonathan . Crusades: Volume 4 . 5 August 2016 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-351-98575-8 . 87 . en.
- Book: Lesley Baker . Patricia . A History of Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East . 1988 . 10.25501/SOAS.00033676 . SOAS, London University . 119 . The texts mention that high-ranking military officers in the early Bahri period wore the sharbush, as in the Seljuk and Ayyubid periods..
- Book: Dozy . Reinhart Pieter Anne . Nederlandsch instituut van wetenschappen . letterkunde en schoone kunsten . Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les Arabes; ouvrage couronné et publié par la Troisìeme classe de l'Institut royal des Pays-Bas . 1845 . Amsterdam J. Müller . 220–224 .
- Book: Yedida Kalfon Stillman, Norman A. Stillman. Arab Dress: A Short History : from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times. 2003. Brill. Leiden, Netherlands. 67. 9789004113732.
