A digital archive showcasing the extensive collection of jewellery and adornment images shared on the former Ethnic Jewels Ning site over the years. These images have significantly enriched discussions on cultural adornment and its global dispersion.
You need to be a member of Adorned Histories to add comments!
Request your copy of our newsletter.
If you would like to receive our newsletter
Comments
Possibly Baluchi? I know the workmanship is something between Omani and Afghani work (influenced both ways there). It is lovely!
Thank you Hillary. You know I think it may well be Omani and an anklet (it rattles), a very rare one from Dhofar. The previous owner said it was from the 18th century so it might be that rare one. I just don't know about the use of turquoise in Omani jewelry. I don't have enough knowledge so I would appreciate input from Omani jewelry experts.
The wire wrap that hugs the turquoises on the main portion is very Omani. We had a large Omani bracelet that was hollow and had cornerless cube knobs and it also had this same decorative wirework.
From what I've read, there was a large Baloch community in Oman. Balochistan is a province in SW Pakistan. Another EJ member sells items and he has this listing:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/117830466/bedouin-balochistan-silver-et...
Again, I think that the piece you have has different construction that the bracelet in the link above and it could be that a Balochi silversmith made it for the Omani market, or an Omani silversmith made it for the Balochi market as the wire-wrapping is very Omani to me, while the turquoise is not. A special piece to be sure! Below you can see the bracelet we had....
Does not look Omani to me, maybe Harald can tell us more??
It's from Iran :-)