Bedouin jewellery: Intro

What is Bedouin jewellery

Bedouin jewellery: an introduction

‘Bedouin jewellery’ and ‘Bedouin silver’ are among the search terms most used for traditional jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia. That is even where this blog gets its name from! But what is Bedouin jewellery, exactly?

Who are the Bedouin?

Before we can look into Bedouin jewellery, we’ll need to get a grasp of who the Bedouin are. The word Bedouin comes from the Arabic Badawi, which means ‘of the desert’. That is a referral to their nomadic origins, and distinguishes them from sedentary people who lived near water and greenery. Those nomadic origins are reflected in the wide area the Bedouin live in today. You might think of the Arab Peninsula first, and you would be right, but Bedouin tribes live from Morocco to Iraq.

The backbone of Bedouin society is their tribal structure. That is not just an organizational structure, but also one with geographical reach. A tribe consists of many clans, made up by families, and levels of kinship are important. The space in which a tribe lives, is also recognized as their land: its borders are known and follow natural boundaries such as wadis, rivers or mountain ranges. [1]

That regional aspect of Bedouin life clashes regularly with modern state authorities.[2] The map shown below for example is from 1908 and shows the Bedouin tribes living in Southwest Asia. You see how the dwelling area of tribes can be quite large and extends across borders as we know them today.

Map from 1908 showing the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai, Palestine and Arab Peninsula.

What is Bedouin jewellery?

Unsurprisingly, Bedouin jewellery is the jewellery worn by Bedouin tribes. That might seem like a total no-brainer, but today you will find many pieces of jewellery described as ‘Bedouin’ which really are not! The word ‘Bedouin’ has become almost a synonym for jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia in general, and as such is at the verge of losing all meaning itself.

So, in order to recognize Bedouin jewellery, looking at the people that used these items is important. In other words: the answer to what Bedouin jewellery is, depends very much on which Bedouin you’re talking about. The jewellery of Omani Bedouin looks very different from that of Palestinian Bedouin, which in turn has nothing in common with Maghrebi Bedouin. But: they all share designs, motifs and workmanship with the other cultures of the geographical area they live in. And that reflects their history.

A faceveil from Palestinian/Egyptian Bedouin, showing coins.

Spendid Rashayda dress and silver jewellery.

Bedouin jewellery: history

The history of those many Bedouin tribes is visible in their jewellery. Jewellery and adornment show who they were in contact with. The coins on Palestinian and Egyptian Bedouin face veils present a beautiful economic overview of the people and societies they traded with. An example is shown in the gallery above: click on the image to enlarge it. Veils will have old Ottoman coins, Palestinian Mandate period coins, Russian coins and later on Israeli shekels: the changes of the political landscape the Bedouin live in, is recorded in their adornment.

The heavy face veils of the Rashayda Bedouin in Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea are reminiscent of those of the Rashayda tribe in Saudi Arabia: the Rashayda migrated from the Arab Peninsula about a century ago. Because of the close proximity of the Arab Peninsula, across the Red Sea, Rashayda jewellery still show similarities on both sides. An example is shown in the gallery above: click on the image to enlarge it.

A much earlier migration is that of the Maghrebi Bedouin tribes, who moved into North Africa in the Middle Ages, with the Arab expansion. The best-known Bedouin tribe living in the Maghreb are the Banu Hilal, but, for example, also the Ouled Nail and the Awlad Ali are descendants of Bedouin tribes from the Arab Peninsula. Their jewellery shows much more similarity to that of their Amazigh neighbours (although that relationship has often been a difficult one) than that of the Arab Peninsula. An example is shown in the gallery below.

A Ouled Nail Bedouin woman and silver bracelets.

Bedouin jewellery: a kaleidoscope of styles

This short exploration into Bedouin tribes across the Middle East and North Africa has shown how wide and varied this world is. There is no single style of ‘Bedouin jewellery’, and the term certainly does not apply to any and all traditional jewellery from the Middle East. It is not exclusive to jewellery from the Arab Peninsula, either: Bedouin tribes live in a very large region. I will be adding details in the Cultures & People-section of this blog gradually, so do check back regularly or subscribe to the Jewellery List to receive updates in your inbox!

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References

[1] Weir, S. 2007. A Tribal Order. Politics and Law in the Mountains of Yemen. British Museum, p. 92-93.

[2] Westheimer, R. & G. Sedan 2009. Shifting Sands. Bedouin Women at the Crossroads. Lantern Books, New York describes the consequences for Bedouin women in Israel.

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Dictionnaire des Bijoux

by Sigrid van Roode | Reviews

North African jewellery

Dictionnaire des Bijoux

The Dictionnaire des Bijoux (Dictionary of Jewellery) by Paul Eudel presents jewellery from North Africa. It’s a resource that has been around for more than a century, and you’ll find a downloadable copy for your own use with this post. What does this book offer, and what do we need to know before using it?

Describing jewellery from North Africa: the colonial background

Before you think: ‘Why do I need to know how, why and when a book was made? I just want to see jewellery references!’ – bear with me. Especially with older books, it is important to have some idea of the aim with which they were written. And that is because that aim colours our understanding of jewellery today. So here we go.

Paul Eudel’s overview of jewellery from North Africa was published in 1906. The Dictionary of Jewellery is the product of a project that started well before the 1900’s. Eudel had first published his works on the works of jewellers in Algeria and Tunisia, followed by an essay on jewellers in Morocco.

During this timeframe, the Maghreb was colonized by France. It is against this background that the book has been compiled. Its purpose was not simply to document jewellery from a cultural perspective, but far more from an economical perspective. Knowing what types of jewellery existed and what materials went into them, provided a basis to calculate and impose everyone’s favourite: taxes. Taxes, that would flow into the economy of France.

A dictionary of jewellery: critical reading

The re-edition of this book which I read, features an introduction by Moroccan ethnologist Abdelmajid Arrif. That introduction adds very necessary context to the book. One of the points he makes, is that the very act of listing, documenting and presenting information into a dictionary is a very colonial thing to do.

Now of course every culture on earth has been making lists since writing was first invented. On a side note, writing was invented because humans wanted to make lists – the invention of writing is literally rooted in economy.

It gets colonial when a culture starts making lists of things encountered in another culture: cities captured, enemies killed, loot taken are hot topics in ancient inscriptions. But, also the seemingly innocent listing of jewellery types in a colonized region falls into that category.

Dictionnaire des Bijoux by Paul Eudel, with a Kabyle fibula placed on the cover.

Jewellery from the Maghreb: what do we miss?

So, what are we missing from these many pages of jewellery examples? Most importantly, all cultural context is left out. This book presents an overview of jewellery types and nothing more. It’s a catalogue of sorts. Some entries also tell us where a certain piece was worn, and some even by whom. But mainly, it’s a list of objects.

The oral histories that go with jewellery pieces are missing. Their meaning as wedding or dowry gift, the symbolism in their design, the songs jewellery features in, the art and creativity of the jewellery creators themselves…all that and more has no place in a dictionary. It’s like a phone book, more or less: it simply lists your contacts, but it does not capture their personality or your relationship with them.

Eudel’s dictionary of jewellery: what do we have?

If you have read this far, you might be wondering by now if this book is useful at all. It very much is! The main thing to keep in mind is that this book is not the definitive book on North African jewellery. Obviously, you would not reasonably expect a book of only roughly 200 pages to showcase all jewellery from four countries. But lists often have that effect: if it’s not on the list, it does not exist. This is the third filter of selecting: click here to see how that works!

What it absolutely is very valuable for, is the original names of things. This overview presents us with a wealth of jewellery pieces from the Maghreb, all listed with their own name. These are often missing from today’s descriptions outside of the Maghreb itself, so having access to these is a major advantage.

The drawback is that, well, you’d have to know their name to find anything (it’s a dictionary, after all), but the many illustrations speak for themselves and make it easier to find the piece you’re looking for. And I may be a little bit of a nerd, but I love starting at A and letting myself be surprised by what I encounter!

Those illustrations themselves are also incredibly helpful. A perfume container for musk, called meskia, is depicted both open and closed. The hundreds of detailed drawings bring the jewellery from North Africa to life and show us what they looked like around the beginning of the 20^th century. As a time capsule, it is a very helpful resource to get an idea of the date of some jewellery pieces.

Dictionnaire des Bijoux de l’Afrique du Nord: an important resource

With all its pros and cons, the Dictionnaire des Bijoux is an important resource for North African jewellery. It is a starting point for research, in that it offers insight into the types of jewellery in existence in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. When you’re looking into North African jewellery, this book will be a great help with their vernacular names. And with those, you will be able to extend your search and learn more: see here how to go about that!

As it is an old book, it is widely available in pdf-form, and you’ll find a downloadable pdf below this blog. This is a digital scan of the original book, so in its original formatting and without additional explanations, introduction or indexes.

Personally, I like having a reprint in tangible form on my shelf: it makes for much easier reading and searching. Details of the book that is pictured above in the video and the photograph are below: this edition has been reformatted and includes the introduction by Abdelmajid Arrif, the essay on jewellers in Morocco, and an alphabetic index.

Download the Dictionnaire des Bijoux here

More information on Dictionnaire des Bijoux de l’Afrique du Nord

Title: Dictionnaire des Bijoux de l’Afrique du Nord. Maroc, Algerie, Tunisie, Tripolitaine. By Paul Eudel (1906), with an introduction by Abdelmajid Arrif 2014. 255 pages, b/w with a few colour images, in French.

Published by Editions Frontispice.

Available online and in well-sorted bookstores.

I purchased this republished book in the museum shop of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.

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Sigrid van Roode

Parfums d’Orient

by Sigrid van Roode | Museums & Exhibitions

Institut du Monde Arabe

Parfums d’Orient

Fragrance has always been important in North Africa and the Middle East. It plays a crucial role on many levels, a theme I explored in my book Silver & Frankincense. So you can imagine my excitement when the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris presented their exhibition Parfums d’Orient: I had to go and see it!

Ancient stone incense burner from the Arab Peninsula

Fragrance: a long history

The exhibition starts out with the history of perfume and perfume-making. As it was a well-visited exhibition, I had to wait a little before I could see the showcases, and while I looked around, I caught a whiff of something….roses? Was I imagining things? There were large photographs of the rose harvest in Morocco on the wall, so perhaps I got carried away before my visit had well and truly started?

The mystery was quickly solved when I approached the first showcases. These showed early incense burners, explained how the trade in frankincense brought prosperity to the Arab Peninsula and how fragrances like musk, oudh, ambergris and frankincense became prized goods in the ancient world. And with the showcases were beautifully designed dispensers that allowed visitors to smell each of these fragrances. Not too much and certainly not too heavy, but just enough to leave a hint of perfume lingering in the air.

Large cylinders with rose petals and saffron added a visual element to fragrance: with a click of a button, the petals whizzed around in their glass cylinders while a puff of scent was released. The video below shows what that looked like. To me, it was a beautiful visual companion to the photographs of the rose harvest I mentioned earlier, and a perfect start of the visit to get in the mood for perfumes.

Perfume and economics

From these first scents, the exhibition continues to the smells of everyday life. A small corner with tanned leather allows you to explore the foul smell of that process (and if you have visited the tanneries of Fez or Marrakech for example, you’ll know what I mean…!).

Large photographs of incense and perfume merchants in Oman tell the story of trade and commerce. Here, one of the explanations read that the souqs in Oman were the last place where fragrances were created in the traditional style, but I do seem to recall seeing that in Marrakech for example, too: there is hope yet for the traditional way of creating perfumes.

Perfume: science and creating

From the souq, we move on to the scientific processes behind distillation and evaporation. This was invented in the Middle Ages, and I absolutely loved seeing a replica of a distilling device next to a medieval manuscript depicting just such a thing. Medieval glass vessels show the craftmanship behind this scientific approach.

This part continues with the art of blending fragrances. Here again, the visitor experience is central: a ‘smelling station’ allows you to follow the buildup of three different fragrances, from the base notes, through the heart, to the top notes. It was a wonderfully layered experience to smell the ingredients coming together!

Necklace of scented beads from Tunisia, with gold beads.

Perfume: home and guests

From the fields of roses and the streets of the souqs, the exhibition then continues into the home. Here, we learn of the importance of cleanliness and appearing well-groomed. Perfuming guests and hospitality are beautifully and evocatively illustrated, again with fragrance gently surrounding the visitor.

Home fragrances are also extended into the domain of cooking and spices: many ingredients in perfume are also used in medicine and the kitchen.

Fragrance: intimacy and beauty

In the last space, we enter the most private sphere: that of individual care and intimacy. Fragrance is an important agent in the intimacy of marriage for example. Jewellery designed to hold perfume or made of fragrant substances itself is also shown, like the necklace of scented beads from Tunisia, or the fibula with a small box for scented material, both in the gallery above (click on the image to enlarge the photo).

And finally, at the end of the exhibition, we take our leave as honoured guests: a small dispenser at the end of the exhibition drips perfume into the palm of our hand. A scent that stayed with me for hours, and illustrated how perfume connects. On the metro ride home, I caught a faint whiff of that same perfume…

…and sure enough, a fellow passenger carried a bag with the Institut du Monde Arabe-logo on it. We looked at each other and smiled. For a brief and fleeting moment, we were no longer strangers on the subway, but connected by our shared experience of a museum visit, and recognizing each other by our perfume.

Parfums d’Orient: a multi-layered exhibition

This exhibition was absolutely stunning. I loved how it combined seeing and smelling into one experience. The whizzing rose petals next to a large photo, the size of the photographs of the Omani souqs that transport the visitor, the combination of medieval manuscripts with replicas and layered scents…there is so much to see, learn and experience.

As a visitor, you do not need to worry this is too much of a ‘smell-fest’: should you wish to smell a particular scent, you’ll need to push a button that releases a small puff. It creates a moment of intimacy rather than abundance.

Besides smell, images and objects, throughout the exhibition you will encounter modern art woven into the storylines in a very natural way. Modern glass containers stand next to Fatimid crystal, an artwork evokes incense smoke whirling upwards, a colourful tapestry is actually entirely made of spices.

The exhibition shows how fragrance carries meaning, and continues to do so. From the ancient world to our day and age, this journey through the world of perfume is a journey through being human: the things we fear, the joy we feel, the discoveries we make, the natural world around us. Highly recommended: enjoy this sensory journey!

Parfums d’Orient: Sept 26, 2023 – March 17, 2024.

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. See more info on their website here.

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Explore the world of fragrance in the course Scents of the Middle East!

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Sigrid van Roode

Jewellery clasps

by Sigrid van Roode | Reviews

A reference work on jewellery design

Clasps: 4,000 years of fasteners in jewellery

Every now and then I come across a book of which I think ‘How did I not know of this book before?!’ and this little book is one of those. Le Fermoir en Bijouterie, or in English, Clasps, devotes almost 300 pages to one of the most overlooked parts of jewellery: the way it closes.

Silver bracelet made by Tuful Ramadan, in the exhibition 'Making their Mark: women silversmiths from Oman' in the British Museum

Clasps in jewellery: 4,000 years of history

This book covers the use of clasps and other ways of fastening jewellery from the distant past to our times. From the Bronze Age to jewellery designs of our time, the author covers a multitude of ways to close necklaces, bracelets and anklets. You will see how torcs work, how anklets hinge, illustrated by a dazzling variety of jewellery. That includes a necklace worn by Marjorie Merriwather Post for example, but also a few examples of regional jewellery from Europe and the rest of the world.

This is 4,000 years of history, but apart from ancient Egypt and a lovely excursion to jewellery types of other areas, the focus is firmly on European jewellery: clasps like those of Maghrebi fibulas, or sliding knots from Indian jewellery are not included. That is not criticism, as this book covers an incredible amount of material – I think I’m just really hoping for a Part 2!

Clasps in close-up: photography and drawings

Another thing which makes this a great reference book are the detailed photographs of clasps. The beautiful pieces of jewellery are not only shown in their entirety, but also with focus on the details of the clasp. That means that you’ll see a lot of images of jewellery pieces both closed and open, and with details of that part you never see when worn: its reverse side.

Detailed schematic drawings throughout the book highlight closing mechanisms where necessary. The last part, the glossary of clasps, presents an overview of 25 types of closing mechanisms in chronological order. Each type is accompanied by a schematic drawing of its function. And all of these are shown in use, too, as part of a jewel.

The book features hundreds of pieces of jewellery, dating from prehistory to high-end jewellery of our day and age. You will see museum pieces from archaeological museums as well as contemporary designs and everything in between: think Etruscan gold to Van Cleef and Arpels.

I loved to see the intricacy and clever design of jewellery closing devices throughout history. And because they are presented in such a wide time range, this book allows you to appreciate the originality and creativity that jewellery designers managed to come up with, time and again. A clasp can be part of the design itself, the eye-catching element in the centre or the invisible, innovative solution to wearing a jewel safely and securely.

Clasps to study and understand

This is a wonderfully illustrated book which both jewellery historians and jewellery designers will love. It presents a wide overview of types of clasps and it offers a gorgeous selection of jewellery to admire. Many of which you will see photographed in this detail of their closing mechanism for the first time! This really helps in understanding how a jewel is constructed, or, when you’re admiring a painting or an old photograph, to get some idea on how a jewel is worn. A lot of work went into compiling this book, and I am sure you will appreciate this encyclopaedic overview. For me, this is definitely a reference book that I will pull out often!

More information on Le Fermoir en Bijouterie/Clasps

French title: Le Fermoir en Bijouterie. 4000 ans d’histoires.

English title: Clasps. 4,000 years of fasteners in jewellery.

By Anna Tabakhova, 2019. 283 pages, full colour, in either French or English.

Published by Editions Terracol: click here for the English version, and click here for the French version.

Available with the publisher, online and in well-sorted bookstores.

I purchased the French book in the museum shop of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

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Sigrid van Roode

Palestine jewels: Bethlehem

by Sigrid van Roode | Cultures & People

jewellery of Palestine

Traditional Palestinian jewellery: Bethlehem

Bethlehem and its surrounding region are home to a recognizable tradition in dress and adornment. In this blog, I’ll show you the most common elements of Bethlehem adornment – with photographs that rarely have been published elsewhere.

Two Palestinian women in Lifta, carrying water.

Bethlehem and surrounding villages

The town of Bethlehem is located on the West Bank, to the south of Jerusalem. In the immediate vicinity are many smaller villages, which share a similar personal attire. These similarities are visible in a wider area. The photograph shown above (click on the image to enlarge it) is in the collection of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden. It shows women in the village of Lifta, which is to the north of Jerusalem and now in Israel, dressed in the same dress and jewellery as women in Bethlehem. [1]

Girls and a woman in Artas, Palestine. The girl on the left holds a chicken and is wearing a headdress with silver coins.

Bethlehem shatweh with coral beads, gold and silver coins.

Back view of a Bethlehem shatweh, showing additional Ottoman coins.

Bethlehem headdress: shatweh and taqiyeh

Married women in Bethlehem and the surrounding villages of Beit Jala, Lifta and Beit Sahur wore a headdress called shatweh. [2] This is a conical shaped headdress, densely embroidered on the outside and decorated with coins and coral beads.

Two examples of the shatweh are included in the gallery above: click on the images to enlarge them.

The coins could be either gold or silver, and wealthier people were reported to own two of these: one with gold for festive days, and one with silver for every day wear. However, in most cases wear of this headdress was limited to festive occasions such as weddings. [3] The Frank Scholten archive, containing photographs made between 1921 and 1923, shows many women in Bethlehem of which only few wear the shatweh.

Unmarried girls wore a smaller headdress, known as qurs or taqiyeh.[4] This was a type of bonnet, tied under the chin or under the hair with strings, and embellished with embroidery and coins. An example of this can be seen in the gallery above: click on the photo to enlarge. Both headdresses were covered with a cream-coloured veil of flowing silk. [5]

A forehead ornament of small hand amulets, called khamassiyat after these hands, was worn in the wider area of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. [6] A photo of such an ornament is in the galley below: click on the image to enlarge.

Three solid silver haydari bracelets from Bethlehem.

Khamassiyat forehead ornament, worn in the Jordan Valley and Bethlehem area.

Group of Palestinian women in Bethlehem, wearing silver jewellery glinting in the sun.

Traditional jewellery of Bethlehem: bracelets

The most used jewellery in the Bethlehem area were bracelets called haydari. Their use is not limited to the Bethlehem region: they are also found in Jaffa and Hebron. Bracelets like these were worn in pairs, and it is not uncommon to find women wearing several bracelets stacks on each wrist.

An example can be seen in the photograph by Frank Scholten above (click on the image to enlarge – also it’s not your Internet connection, this photo of a century old is a bit unfocused). The haydari bracelets are solid silver, and were produced in both Bethlehem itself and Jerusalem.

Other bracelets also worn in this area are the bracelets of a twisted band, called mabroum, and bangles with little dots called ‘lentil’-bracelets because of their resemblance to lentils. [7]

Finnish scholar Hilma Granqvist wearing bridal jewellery of Bethlehem.

Two solid silver chin-chains called iznaq from Palestine.

The Star of Bethlehem: shining in silver

A remarkable and very typical piece of adornment for this region is the silver chin-chain. This was called ‘iznaq saba’ arwah, or ‘seven spirits’. The chin-chain was made of solid silver links, most often adding up to six or seven strands, which were connected in the centre by a star-shaped ornament.

The star was also referred to as the Star of Bethlehem. [8] From the set of chains, a central coin was suspended. Depending on the wealth of the wearer, the set of chains could be embellished further with multiple coins. The chin-chain was hooked into the shatweh headdress, and floated across the chest of the wearer.

Finnish researcher Hilma Granqvist was dressed up by her hosts in traditional bridal attire when visiting Bethlehem [9]. On the photo, which you see above, she wears a low shatweh headdress and the chin-chain ornament.

The chin-chain ornament was worn widely in the region of Bethlehem, too, as the image of the two women from Lifta at the top of this post shows. But as these were expensive pieces, they were not worn every day, and may even have been borrowed on festive occasions from wealthier family members. [10]

The photographs in the Hilma Granqvist archive show many women in everyday activities dressed in the Bethlehem thobe and wearing their bracelets, but without the festive shatweh headdress and accompanying chin-chain.

A rich heritage

The traditional jewellery of Bethlehem shows the splendour of the heritage of this town and its surrounding villages. The shatweh has become iconic for Palestinian dress and adornment. It is a heritage to be celebrated!

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References

[1] NINO Leiden, Böhl-collection.

[2] Weir, S. 1989. Palestinian Costume. The Trustees of the British Museum, London, p. 181.

[3] Völger, G. (ed) 1987. Pracht und Geheimnis. Kleidung und Schmuck aus Pälästina und Jordanien, p. 284.

[4] Weir, S. 1989. Palestinian Costume. The Trustees of the British Museum, London, p. 182-183.

[5] Völger, G. (ed) 1987. Pracht und Geheimnis. Kleidung und Schmuck aus Pälästina und Jordanien, p. 284.

[6] Rajab, J. 1989. Palestinian Costume, p. 115.

[7] Weir, S. 1989. Palestinian Costume. The Trustees of the British Museum, London, p. 199. bracelets

[8] Völger, G. (ed) 1987. Pracht und Geheimnis. Kleidung und Schmuck aus Pälästina und Jordanien, p. 302.

[x9 Hägmann, S. 2023. Dedicated to Palestine. The life and work of ethnologist Hilma Granqvist, p. 96.

[10] For Artas, this practice is mentioned in Völger, G. (ed) 1987. Pracht und Geheimnis. Kleidung und Schmuck aus Pälästina und Jordanien, p. 284. Weir, S. 1989. Palestinian Costume. The Trustees of the British Museum, London, p. 194 mentions that in most villages, chin-chains were only one or two strands instead of six or seven: this was reserved for wealthy persons in Bethlehem.

See the digital archive of Hilma Granqvist here.

See the digital archive of Frank Scholten here.

Sigrid van Roode

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