old single Ethiopian Earring 1

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.

old single Ethiopian Earring 1

Posted by Eva Baby on January 31, 2013 at 1:17pm

Metal Alloy with silver, ca. 5 cm long, 10 dangles in form of hollow bells, Northern Ethiopia (photo after cleaning) (Worn by the Oromo in the Welo Province)

Comments

Chantal January 31, 2013 at 8:54pm

Lovely to see the detail and the various angles. Had never sen that type before. Well done.
Eva Baby January 31, 2013 at 9:04pm

@Thank you Chantal! Nice to see that you are here again!
Eva Baby January 31, 2013 at 9:23pm

Thanks a lot for the feature, Sarah (or Patti?)......!
Akkie February 1, 2013 at 9:12am

Pretty to look at. Used when dancing?
Eva Baby February 1, 2013 at 9:39am

@Akkie: thank you. I have no information from the seller, but I think for everyday, similar to some hairpins with the same style. I presume that it was once a pair of earrings and one was lost, but I have no information whatsoever about this, except "tribal earring from Northern Ethiopia". As the middle part (the needle which is a hollow piece and can be opened) is much too thick to ever fit any Western ear hole, I put a ring around it and will wear it occasionally as a pendant. (However, I have a hairpin, that looks similar (pls see below), which I can wear as an earring, since there the needle is thin. (Sometimes it is not bad to just adjust its original use...... in order to be able to wear it too sometimes). So I am wearing the hairpin occasionally as earring and the earring occasionally as a pendant.........
Akkie February 1, 2013 at 10:48am

Eva, some creative that you used it so! Everyone has a different reason why he/she buys a ethnic ornament and it is interesting to see what everyone else does with it.
Chantal February 1, 2013 at 10:54am

Thanks Eva for showing the similarity and the differences. Excellent close ups.
Eva Baby February 4, 2013 at 3:27pm

@Chantal, thank you. I wonder about the number of dangles. The square Ethiopian amulett box has 12 (representing the 12 disciples from the Bible), other pieces have 7, and this one has 10. Perhaps the number means here nothing........?
Chantal February 4, 2013 at 5:34pm

Sorry Eva, no idea.........Is there any dangle missing? We could do with a book on Ethiopian jewelry..............which is so full of symbols.Anyone knows of one?
Eva Baby February 15, 2013 at 4:14pm

Here is a photo from the book "Africa adorned" by Angela FIsher, showing such earrings by the Oromo Women, Welo Province, Ethiopia

Gallery

old single Ethiopian Earring 1

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