Yemen has a rich and fertile gulf coast once with high traffic due to the coffee and frankincense trade. But much of the country that stretches toward the interior has become an impassable desert known as The Empty Quarter. But the Bedouins know the way from oasis to oasis around the fringe of the ocean of sand and more sand. The finger of one of those Bedouin women once wore this fine flat cut brilliant red glass gem in her silver ring - probably more than one generation of Yemen Bedouin women wore it:
Here you see where this Empty Quarter is located, partly in Yemen and partly in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen Silver Bedouin Ornamental Ring with Red Glass Flat Cut Gem
Here are some more views of this fine old ethnic jewelry:
See many more of the old Yemen and Turkoman jewelry listed for sale in my studio.
Here is a photo of the Empty Quarter -- the desert that I wrote about in the introduction to the Yemen Bedouin ring.
Here you see where this Empty Quarter is located, partly in Yemen and partly in Saudi Arabia.
It does look entirely empty! 
always learn so much from your posts, Anna. And that ring is superb. You can tell it has been well worn - and well loved, I'm sure. The little dangles are almost whimsical. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
ReplyDeleteYour comment on it this morning inspired me to go ahead and write a little blurb about it. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.
Deletejust like Catherine said, one learns so much from your post. The photos and history are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement, Gunilla.
ReplyDeleteAnna
I like the little dangles on the ring, too. The Empty Quarter does have a bleak beauty, but I sure wouldn't want to be stranded there!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the little jingling dangles on the ring. The Bedouin and Koochi (Nomad) jewelry have a lot of such ornamentation. The Turkoman and Yemen urban style jewelry also add a lot of bell-like silver dangles even to their very intricate designs.
Deletewow, that is quite a stretch of sand! thank you for sharing that gorgeous ring. It has a timeless design that can be seen in rings today, although the bell attachments are interesting and different than today's rings. Very cool, and thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie, for your very kind comment. I guess when you wear a veil, those little jingles get some attention ;)
DeleteThat is a cool ring. I thought maybe it was amber.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion, Roxanne.
DeleteThe gem is hard and very glassy on its surface. Real Yemen amber is softer, and really not available to Yemeni jewelry makers since before 1900. Their native amber is made from frankincense and that was being shipped to Europe and the New World at a high price by that time. The Yemenis had to switch to copal amber and then to amber colored bakelite for their beads. They commonly used coral, agate or glass for the decorating their silver jewelry.
A beautiful ring!!! Such a dark, deep color... so mistical.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of a desert is amazing. But scary.
I relly love your post, so short, but it quite enough to get the a vague idea of a Bedouin woman's life. Beautiful!
Thank you, Vesna.
DeleteAnna