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
Very nice piece, shows off the Ottoman style at its best. Could the coin be decorative only?
splendid piece. congratulations
Yes, Patti, I think it`s well on the cards that the "coin" might be a decorative motif. The pendant itself might be of a totally different era.
Thank you, ait ouakli. I have just added Bulgarian to the title.
My feeling is that this hails from sometime during the Bulgarian National Revival period, a time when there was a blossoming of all Bulgarian crafts and during which local craftsmens guilds were set up. Some of the jewellery designs are as attributable to a specific area as they would be in, for example, North Africa.
Roll on April when I return to my Bulgarian National Revival house in the Balkan mountains!
Anyone interested in learning more of some of the development of Bulgarian jewellery might like to look at:
www.leonardo-project.de/assets/img/projektergebnisse/bulgarianjewel...
Hope it works!
OOOPs, no it didn`t work. The end part should read:
bulgarianjewellery.pdf
I don`t know why it came out as it did.
Beautiful Frankie!
Thanks, Howah. It is certainly a finely worked piece. One doesn`t see much on the general market like it.
Frankie , before i forget.
the Bulgarian art has a lot to do with the ottoman and turkei art. there is a high % of turk population until now there.
many jewish smiths and family immigrated to bulgaria and hungary. they took with the samples and know how they had . from there they immigrate to the rest of europa . in prague, we see the mix culture too
Yes, the bulgarian population has always included turks. Jews were in evidence from the 2nd century AD, both groups contributing to cultural activities. Jews were afforded a certain amount of protection during WW11, Bulgaria having no great wish to enter that war. However, it found itself very much between a rock and a hard place and felt itself forced to enter towards the end of it. There were quite large numbers of labour camps throughout the country, the inmates of which have largely now been compensated by the state.
Islamic jewellery pieces do sometimes appear in bulgarian antique shops. Occasionally jewellery work comes onto the market designated as "prison work". I have often wondered if this has come from the labour camps. Though there is still a large turkish population in Bulgaria, they are generally not well tolerated and tend to form ghettoes. The jewish population is now small, many of them having emmigrated to Israel as they did from N. Africa.
Sadly there is no evidence of jewellery being made by either populace these days.
Howah, I`m pretty sure you`ll already seen eBay item no. 181048811015 - described as a lady`s Ottoman pendant. I love the way an interest in ethnic jewellery can lead one on to gaining knowledge in other fields. I had wondered why a coin so poorly matched in colour and design was used as its` centrepiece. What was the connection between the main pendant and a 1599 Sigismund III Polish coin? I found that actually it was the date of the third Polish Ottoman war in which the Ottomans were defeated. I think it`s possible that it a recent Bulgarian addition to applaud Ottoman defeat. I`d better add that Bulgaria is a notorious source of fake ancient coins though!
You,and anyone else that`s interested, might like to look at:
www.old.omda.bg
where you`ll find a few more illustrations of Bulgarian jewellery. Your bracelet, the pendant mentioned and my own all look like they`re 19thC. But you probably already know that and a lot more!
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next