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
More views:
I have recently seen an outstanding large adornment in which these pendants were used, it was a long heavy embroidered sash (leather, velvet or both) with a couple of these attached to each end. My conclusion was your pendant was used in these kind of long temporals or head adornments like a flowing braid, rather than a proper veil weight (like those of the tuareg). I failed to get the picture of that piece unfortunately.
That's most interesting Alaa, because I couldn't really picture how this piece would have been worn... Thank you!
I imagine the complete piece must have been quite a heavy load to carry on your head...
I failed to find the archive picture of the piece i was referring to in my last comment but i could however find this lovely one which confirms what you were initially suggesting.
I must confess that those mysterious eyes needed at least a large jewel to get my attention off of them!
Dahm Bedouin woman from Rub al-Khali (between Yemen and Saudi Arabia) photo by Mauger Thierry
What a beauty, Betty. In such good condition and so big. An excellent collectors piece. Very interesting to see how it was used. Thanks to Alaa too for the photo.
Thank you very much Alaa for adding this fantastic picture (I agree about the eyes! :-))! It is very hard to imagine how this lovely young lady manages to hold her head up with such a heavy jewellery attached to her head scarf...
I thought you would like this Thelma...Thank you for your kind words. To be frank I don't yet know what to do with it. Unfortunately I find it much too heavy to wear as a pendant and I barely have enough room to display even my humble Ethiopian collection. I may end up offering it for sale, but in the meantime greatly enjoy looking at it.