How to buy Sermeh-duzi

Definition

Sermeh-duzi is a couched metal-thread embroidery technique, historically worked with fine wire or wire-wound thread laid on the surface of the cloth and stitched down with a separate finer thread rather than passed through the ground fabric itself, since drawn metal wire is too rigid and abrasive to sew directly. The result is a raised, reflective surface pattern suited to heavier fabrics such as velvet.

The technique belongs to a broader family of gold-thread and metal-thread embroidery practised across the historic Persianate and Ottoman world, and Iranian sermeh-duzi shares methods and some motifs with related traditions while developing its own regional conventions in workshops such as those of Isfahan and Rasht.

History

Metal-thread embroidery for court and ceremonial dress is documented in Iran through the Safavid and Qajar periods, used on garments, horse trappings, cushion covers and religious textiles for patrons who could afford the costly gold and silver wire. The craft's prestige was closely tied to the cost of its materials as much as to the skill required.

Demand for elaborate metal-thread embroidered garments declined with changes in dress and court patronage through the twentieth century, and production narrowed toward ceremonial, religious and specialty commissions rather than everyday courtly use, a shift documented in general surveys of Iranian textile crafts.

Materials

Fine wire, traditionally of gold or silver, or more commonly a base-metal wire washed or plated to resemble precious metal, is wound around a silk core to make workable metal thread. The ground cloth is usually velvet or another dense weave capable of supporting the weight and stiffness of couched metal work.

• Wire-wrapped metal thread, historically gold or silver, more often brass-based in later work
• Silk core thread beneath the metal wrapping
• Velvet or heavy woven ground cloth
• Fine couching thread to secure the metal thread to the surface