The costume of the Ob-Ugrians, the Khanty and Mansi peoples of Western Siberia, often included woven and braided belts. Leather belts with metal or bone buckles were a part of men’s costume. This element of clothing was of great importance, because the traditional Khanty costume had no pockets. The belt was used to attach scabbards and leather, cloth or fabric pouches, where flint, tinder, tobacco and other supplies were kept.
The leather belts of these peoples were decorated with metal plates, buttons, and bone overlays. The men usually wore belted clothes with a full front, which was used as a pocket.
Women’s belts worn by the southern Khanty were made of two-colored wool. They were woven on a loom or on a small board with parallel rows of slits. Such belts were long and were wrapped around the waist several times.
Furthermore, the southern Khanty were known to have belts made of cloth decorated with buttons or embroidered with beads. Similar items were also used by Mansi. The ends of woven, braided and cloth belts were decorated with bead pendants and metal plates.
The belt fragment from the museum collection was made of leather and brass. It is a piece of rawhide of rectangular shape, folded in half. Along the long sides, the belt was stitched using threads made of plant fibers. Two holes were made in one end of the belt, through which the fragment was connected to the rest of the belt. A brass buckle was attached to the opposite edge with a rawhide strap.
The buckle of the belt was decorated with a circular stamp carving and a perforated heart-shaped pattern. The attached 13 round brass plates were, like the buckle, connected by a rawhide strap. It was threaded through the eyelets on the inside of the plates.
Metal elements were
decorated with incised motifs in the form of a horseback rider, flowers, stars
and circles. A significant part of the belt was lost. The item comes from the
collection of Khanty household items, which was assembled by the researcher
Innokenty Nikolayevich Shukhov between 1911 and 1914.
