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

Yemen Bride Bracelets - a Pair in Silver

A significant cultural item: a pair of bracelets in coin silver made as bridewealth (dowery). See The Jews of Yemen by Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper in the series Highlights of the Israel Museum Collection for a more complete story than I can offer here.

The workmanship is remarkable, the artisan used many of the special motifs common in the Yemen jewelry of the 19th century: twisted wire, beaded wire and braided wire detail fill in the spaces between the three rows of attached diamond shapes and the fine granulation. 

The material used for making up a dowery were the melted down Maria Theresa thalers of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was the standard for quality silver in that era and was used in trade between Europe and Arabia and Western Asia. 

For the dowery, the bride was literally weighed down with silver ornamentation. Rings were made in matching pairs; so with bracelets and anklets. Bracelets were made to fit along each arm, even above the elbow. 

The Jewish silversmiths were removed from Yemen when Israel was established, so this work is no longer being done in Yemen. Complete pieces, especially matching pieces are very rare, so this would be an important addition to your collection or your adornment.

Measurements: 1.96in at widest inside point, with 1in opening for putting on wrist. Diameter of silver work is 0.65in. Total weight of pair: 4 oz.

Black Coral Prayer Beads with Silver Inlay

This is a string of prayer beads from a prosperous, devout person in Yemen. They are so worn that the silver inlay is smooth and pleasant to the touch. The beads extend 36 inches along a fine leather cord with plenty of room for the beads to slide along as the prayers are said. There are 99 beads, two separator drop beads and a longer drop bead at the joining of the string. Once upon a time, there would have been a tassel attached to the long drop bead, but it is worn away and now there is only a knot in the fine leather cord.

This item comes from Yemen, but it was not made there. The center for fabricating this kind of prayer rope was Istanbul, Turkey, capital of the Ottoman Empire, during the 1800s. The silver used in such work had to be up to the Empire's standards. By the early 1900s, the Empire was gone but these antique prayer ropes have lasted. 

Bead measurements 9mm (0.34in) long; 8mm (0.32in) diameter; total weight a bit over 75 grams.

More information at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/craftsofthepast/3809103/Antique

Yemeni All-silver Necklace

This is typical of the bridal jewelry worn as bride wealth in Southern Arabia from very early times. The components of this necklace were fabricated in the shops of the Jewish silversmiths of Yemen somewhere between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The beads are unremarkable, being simple coin silver beads made from melting the Maria Theresa thalers to make the ornaments that Yemeni women wore especially on their wedding day and at the time of the celebration of the birth of their children. 

They also wore some pieces of their jewelry at all times, since they did not have safes in which to store their wealth. As they needed some medium of exchange to buy food or clothing, they could simply remove a piece from the jewelry and trade it for the desired goods. Many Yemeni necklaces are somewhat out of balance, because a piece has been removed for that purpose. 

This necklace illustrates that practice. But there is an even more interesting story in the amulets. These are the most intricately worked items on a Yemeni necklace. They are prayer tubes that look like a mini scroll container. Prayers or blessings might be inserted in the amulet when it was fabricated, or the amulet itself was considered to have spiritual significance, even without the written prayers in it. 

This particular necklace has three amulets attached to the plaques (the large tabular beads) that guide the strands of beads to the end pieces. The end pieces receive special care in their fabrication. 

All the features on this necklace are fabricated in the Yemeni style: they are heavily decorated with silver grains (small drops of molten silver) or they are made with delicate wire filigree, or both methods are used to decorate the parts of the necklace. 

The chain and the fastener are handmade in Yemen, and are typical of that era and region.
More information at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/craftsofthepast/3838519/Antique