Parsuna “Syuyumbike with her son Utyamysh”: a real image or fiction?

Abstract

The object of the study is the parsuna “Syuyumbike with her son Utyamysh” as a historical and ethnographic source. The relevance of studying this type of visual materials lies in the possibility of identifying the transformation of Tatar women's costume. Taking into account the accumulated experience of ethnographic research and the preserved early written and visual materials, the article provides a comparative historical analysis of parsuna. The given piece, according to some estimates, dates back to the 17th–18th centuries. According to the author of the article, it was written no earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. The proposed dating is explained by the absence of characteristic elements of the Tatar woman's costume complex on the depicted Syuyumbike, which were present in drawn works of the earlier period. The image of Syuyumbike is reproduced in a young lady’s head-dress, which consists of a cone-shaped hat and a veil, and the woman next to her is wearing a women’s multi-piece head-dress. Taking into account the traditions of varying degrees of head coverage in the complexes of different age groups of Tatar women, we can conclude that the age of the depicted figures is clearly identifiable in the parsuna. The standing child, who is considered Utyamish, taking into account the early traditions of dressing boys in women’s clothing, is dressed in a girlish complex, repeating the image of a mother and a married woman. This is not typical of the traditional culture. In the 1850s edition, a similar piece was published, but “Syuyumbike” was not indicated in the title, which allows us to assume that that image was later included in an already existing image with reproduction of the clothes of young Tatar girls and married women.

Keywords

• syuyumbike
• cone-shaped headdress
• hat
• blanket
• women’s costume complex
• robe-like clothing