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.
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This is very interesting. I like this alot. One doesn't see alot from Tunisia.
Hi Linda...yes, I think these things are under-collected (at least by American collectors). I thought this was a nice example of a farq, but it isn't rare. Tunisian women still make and use these. This example has a mix of older and newer elements....a few of the glass beads are the red-colored drawn ones with white hearts. I think the enameled medallions are also older elements, possibly passed on to a younger women from older ladies in her family for re-use.
We never see them in the states, if so I would have had one or a few during the years. Tunisian anything is hard to come by and I have only purchased from old collections (really old) or in Paris.
Thanks for the info, Linda. I had begun to suspect as much when I couldn't find much information written on these pieces in English. It was one of the reasons I joined this forum. Until about 3 years ago the only Tunisian jewelry I had ever seen were the 2 pieces published for the Star collection! And I have been discovering some odd things about the availability of certain pieces.
Crescent fibules, for example, are extremely common, but because foreigners want to buy them, shop keepers will jack the prices up even for poor quality examples. Other items that are considered rare by collectors in the west are actually easily found here...I think because most of the foreign buyers in the Medina are souvenir hunters (as opposed to collectors) and so things not easily identified by the average tourist are passed-over. Weird, huh?
do you live in Tunisia? I didn't look at your address. I have not been there ever.. what is it like?
I had one particular necklace that I had sold to a friend that was mine, I miss it now but was very old and very beautiful. I couldn't replace it here as we don't get much from that area like I said.
Yes, I've lived in Tunis for 2 and a half yrs. Ah...nice necklace and this type is now difficult to find, and expensive if you can find one. This is from either Djerba or farther up the Sahel coast from Moknine. (I think more likely Djerba). Tell me, were the blue beads glass or stone? The bell-shaped pendant usually appears on a type of temporal ornament worn on either side of the head, but it is not uncommon for these elements to be used for other types of jewelry.
This was old coral and lapis. The pendant inlaid with cloth and of a type that looked also early to me. I felt this was very old by the way the chain and beads were done., meaning stone shape and bead shape and manufacture technique. I had discussed this with a member of the forum as being what I felt was pre 18th c and quite early I felt the piece could have been early Islamic period but not later than the 17th c So I had the cloth c-14 dated and it was 15th c I decided to test out my theory so I can keep a retinue of data when I speak on dating I need some amunition as it seems most people are convinced that pieces all started in the 19th c. In any event I sold this on and miss it now but it is in a good home. The dangle on the bottom appeared to be of a bit later manufacture and more like 19th c but also of the type of ornament that could have been there.
I have no doubt that your necklace contained some very old pieces, and it is a valuable necklace. (I recently tried to buy a necklace with a similar pendant but the seller wanted what I considered an unreasonable price) It also confirms that lapis beads were used here both in antiquity and the recent past. I have found, however, that there is a long history here in Tunisia of recycling jewelry elements, so one always needs to consider this when attempting to date pieces. I recently acquired a really nice harz necklace with old blue beads, but the beads were of varying periods (posted in my photos). I finally had to come to the conclusion that it is a reconstituted piece in a traditional configuration. In fact, I suspect that the harz in that necklace, while of excellent quality, may be a recently made piece. I didn't mind because it seemed to me to be in keeping with tradition. The farq above also is in keeping with the tradition of recycling elements, and I rather like such pieces because one can imagine its history by looking at the mix of elements of different ages.
Edith, here we see the lapis again! The flat disk bead, Ayis, again reminds me, though less-so, of the beads traded in to Southern Morocco. Linda, this is an absolutely lovely piece. I can only imagine the vibrancy of the coral in real-life!
The fark is beautiful, it is always good to see that old traditions are still kept even under heavy western (and also eastern) influences!!
My fault, i always considered that lapis was an alien component in north african jewelry but linda's necklace is just a wonderful example of such use!
Really brilliant!
I should add that my understanding is that tunisian smithing traditions were somewhat more linked to mid eastern ones probably more than in Morocco or Algeria. we can easily see it from LInda's lecklace in finding pure granulation over gold or gold toned elements in the way some early middle ages mamelouk ou fatimid jewelry were done.
Most probably is that when spanish influences were overwhelming moroccan cities, tunisia managed to keep early fatimid features until now, And lapis in that regard perfectly fits in the local equation in trying to keep a balance between what was coming from the east and what was coming from the west.
Again what Edith says about recycling older beads and components is tru
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