The Dome as a Turkoman Motif

Further details on such items available at CraftsofthePast on Artfire.

The dome shape represents, naturally enough, the world as a reflection or the *other half of the sphere* in its relation to the heavens.  It occurs again and again in the old silver jewelry of the Turkoman people.  Here is a durable and imaginative ring, at least 70 years old.  It was old when I collected it in Turkey in 1970.  That is just one instance of the dome motif in my Turkoman jewelry collection.  Here is another:

Further details on such items are  available at: http://craftsofthepast.artfire.com

The pendant above is gilded in the process described in the immediately previous blog post at this site.  It is also decorated with granulation -- domed dots of silver over the curvature of the gilded dome.  The silver objects on chains hanging from the dome reinforce the idea of earthiness.  They are sometimes understood as inverted mountain motifs.  (Schlechter, Old Silver Jewellery of the Turkoman, 1983).  

In Turkey and Afghanistan, I continued to find instances of the same dome motif in Turkoman jewelry.  In time photos of most of them will find their way into the posts on this blog.

Turkoman Gold on Silver Technique

See more of this item at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/craftsofthepast/3751161/

Unlike a simple gold wash, the Turkoman technique endures for more than  a century, we know from personal experience.   A gold *washing* applied to silver will wear away over time, leaving only a soft glow to the silver piece that has developed patina in the thinly covered spots.   The Turkoman gold-on-silver jewelry in my collection remains resplendent after a hundred years.  

The Turkoman silversmith began with the purest silver available in the form of ingots imported from Russia in general.  At the least they would use melted coins from neighboring countries, standard 0.900 coin silver.  The work then began at the clay hearth built by the metal worker.  The handmade furnace would be fanned with a bellows by an apprentice, usually a pre-teen boy in training to become a silversmith.  The bellows were made of goatskin.  The smithy used simple hand tools, often handmade: a press, pliers, gouges, chisels, punches, hammers, anvils and prybars.  

With this, he could make intricate pieces, heavy in tribal symbolism, paying respect to the mountain, ancestors, and other aspects of his worldview.  The pieces such as the pendant above were made for women, girls and even the children of the tribe.  Men wore silver belts, breastplates, ornate fasteners for their chapans (cloaks), and silver sheaths for daggers.  They also furnished their horses with silver decoration on the blankets and bags hanging on the horses.  

Almost all the Turkoman silver that shows up in present-day collections has some gilding (golding) on it.  Gilding is accomplished with the use of fire.  Thin gold plates are heated red hot and mixed with other metals to stabilize the gold and keep it workable.  Chemicals and minerals are used to prepare the silver surface in the areas that are to be gilded.  Then the gold mixture is rubbed carefully and patiently into the amalgam on the surface of the silver.  The piece of jewelry is then heated again to meld the gold and silver just at the surface of the piece.  Lots of patient heating and rubbing is required for each piece.  In the 150 years record of making such pieces, there must have been at least a million hours spent in preparing these lovely and culturally important pieces, now disappearing into museums and private collections.

Reference: Dieter and Reinhold Schletzer, Old Silver Jewellery of the Turkoman, 1983.

Symbols of the Turkoman Tribal Jewelry

The Turkoman jewelry by the period from 1850 to 1950 had settled into traditional patterns of expression for the Turkoman (Turko-Mongol) world view.  These patterns prevailed throughout the nations in which the Tukic people were either wandering or settled into cities or cultivated areas.  The Turkoman had spread through that region from about the 1200s, but museums do not have large collections of much earlier pieces made by these once nomadic people.

Let's begin our discussion of Turkoman jewelry by looking at a piece that carries so much obvious symbolism that it can be called an important expression of the totem or amuletic properties in the jewelry of that tribe's culture.

Turkoman gold-washed silver amulet with prayers inside

Before the discussion of symbols begins, let me acknowledge the work of Dieter and Reinhold Schletzer, Old Silver Jewellery of the Turkoman, 1983 as the source of much of the information I am able to provide on this blog.  

This amulet contains prayers of blessing and protection for the wearer.  They are written on paper and encased between the front panel and a silver backing.  They are still inside though this piece dates from around 1900-1930, made by a member of the Western Yomud tribe.  

The amulet is appropriately filled with ancestor symbols: the ram's horn.  You first see how they are symbolized by the attachments at the top of the amulet: the curved forms between the attachments of the medallion-decorated chain.  Then again the 5 rows of mirror-image ram's horns that divide the carnelian cabochon gemstones.  

Messrs. Schletzer write in the work noted above that "The two main features of Turkoman mythological consciousness until well into the 19th century were an undifferentiated, sacral belief in passive nature gods and the ancestor cult. "

The floral and ram's horns motifs on the piece in the photo reflect that spirituality, especially fitting for a container for prayers - an amulet.

The diagonal cross that divides the ram's horns on this piece is also a powerful symbol used over and over again in their jewelry as an expression of the seasonal cycle and mankind's life cycle.

The Western Yomud tribe had some gifted silversmiths and we will discuss the craft later, but for the moment, we will be discussing the symbolism and providing examples.

For more information on this particular piece, see
CraftsofthePast at Artfire.com

A Link between Yemeni and Turkoman Cultures

The Afghan/Turkoman Wedding Necklace

This kind of eyecatching personal ornamentation was reserved for women at their wedding and for special occasions thereafter in both the cultures under discussion.  You can see similarities in the materials and in the design.  These particular components were all collected and assembled in Afghanistan from the shops in the bazaars of Kabul.  It is all authentic Afghan/Turkoman style ornamentation.  Every part of the necklace was bought there in 1974.  The necklace was assembled based on examples of such necklaces for sale in the shop windows, usually the most collectible (and highly valued) item in the shop.  

The silver is still shiny and bright; the extremely rare old shells are still strong and have proven durable for the hundred or so years that they have decorated a wedding necklace (this particular one only since 1974).  The coral is of Mediterranean origin and would have been bought somewhere along the trade route from Europe into the Himalayas.  Kabul sits at the foot of the High Himalayas and was a very important stop on the route from Europe to China.

The green serpentine is a plenteous Afghan stone, locally called Afghan jade. 

Near the necklace fastening, on each side, there is a double bead, a characteristic of Turkoman silver jewelry.  It is quite rare to find a Turkoman double bead of this age.  The back of the necklace is just as imposing as the front.  The six silver beads at the center of the necklace are actually bells that sound like sleigh bells as the wearer walks.  A woman who wears this kind of necklace is making a fashion statement -- and declaring her status in the tribe.

A wedding necklace that shows the status of the families of the bride and groom, a multi-strand necklace displaying stone, shell, coral and silver beads and the manner of stringing the components together all show obvious similarities.

More information at 

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/craftsofthepast/3757483/

A Worthy Necklace for a Yemen Bride of High Value

Remember when you saw the photo of the Yemen bride loaded with her bride wealth?  I will post it again just to remind you of the wedding adornment that a highly valued bride wore in 19th century Yemen:

The necklace that I am now posting a photo of is of a kind that the father or groom would pay dearly for, I am sure, because he had to provide enough Maria Theresa silver thalers to make the necessary amount of beads and a matching number of  thalers as payment to the silversmith.  The Yemeni Jewish silversmith who made this particular necklace is Baws.  In general, the work from Beit Baws (House of Baws) is not signed with the maker's mark, because the work is so distinctive that it has never been matched by someone outside the Bawsani tradition. 

There are 15 filigree beads with granulation and 7 medallions attached to the 7 central beads on the chain, also made of wire filigree on a silver background with rosettes of granulation.

This will be a nice finish to the discussion of Yemen bride wealth jewelry for a while, so that we can turn our attention to the much longer archeological and historical record of the culture and handiwork of the succession of peoples who have inhabited the region that is Western Asia.  

You can find more information on this necklace at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/craftsofthepast/4053462/Antique

Announcing the Dispersion of This Fine Collection

I am older now than when I collected these beautiful things.  I am now concentrating on necessities and am ready to disperse the lot to others who will appreciate the cultural artifacts in my collection.

I have had my fun, as they say, and now I must get serious.

So I have linked a couple of web sites at the foot of this page.  They are my sales catalogs on the internet.  I will be adding many, many more items as we have time to unpack and photograph them.

You can have a preview of the places that I have opened:
http://craftsofthepast.artfire.com

http://www.facebook.com/CraftsofthePast?sk=app_119723804515

They are all just a click away ;)

Yemen Coral Necklace with Amulet in Coin Silver (0.900)

Antique Yemen (ca.1900) coral necklace with coin silver (0.900)amulet. The amulet was made by Jewish silversmiths while there was still a sizable Jewish population in Yemen. No such work is being done in that country any more. These pieces are becoming very rare and are finding their way into museums and private collections.

On this particular re-strung old necklace, the coral is very old, shaped by hand and hand-drilled. There are two very small finely granulated coin silver beads, formed in the traditional shapes and by the traditonal methods of the Yemen of its day. There are also two bone beads as spacers.

The necklace has about 11 grams of this old natural-color coral. 

Measurements - Length of necklace: 37.5cm (19 inches). Average diameter of small coral beads: 5mm; larger coral beads: 7mm. Diameter of amulet: 10mm; length : 31mm