Kalfak (Tatar Women's Embroidered Cap)
Velvet cap worn by Tatar women, richly embroidered with gold thread, pearls and gilt coins, with a long embroidered tail or tassel hanging down the back. Part of a woman's dowry, the kalfak was the most original piece of Tatar women's festive headwear and demanded great skill in gold embroidery; unlike the man's tubeteika it marked marital status and rank. The cap is sewn in a crescent or beaked shape that sits toward the back of the head, its velvet embroidered in gold thread laid in tight couched stitches, with a pendant band falling to the shoulder. In the 19th century married and unmarried