The tantour, or ‘horn’, as it was generally known by European travellers at the time, was the most distinctive element in the dress of Druze women in Syria in the 19th century. It was worn on the top of the head, sometimes with a diaphanous white veil attached to the top, and was a compulsory element of the bridal costume; its use was strictly limited to married women. By the end of the century it had been largely replaced by the tarboosh, a smaller felt cap with a silver disc on the crown. It has now been revived as part of the national costume of Lebanon.

Tantours are usually richly decorated with symbolic designs intended to protect or benefit the wearer. The design on the front of this example is a stylised cypress tree with a Greek cross at the top. Although Maronite Christian women are also thought to have worn the tantour before the wars of the mid-19th century, the presence of a cross does not necessarily indicate Christian ownership. The Druze religion accommodated many ideas which would have been anathema to orthodox Moslems.