Glanz und Geheimnis

Glanz und Geheimnis

a stunning private collection

Glanz und Geheimnis

A hidden gem: the exhibition of traditional silver jewellery and dress from the wonderful collection of Swiss collector Peter Hösli is on show in the Knauf Museum, Iphofen, until November 2023. I had the opportunity to visit this beautiful exhibition – so many rare pieces that I had to return for a second visit!

First, what is the Knauf Museum? This is the museum that the Knauf family (if you have ever done home renovation, you have used their products) has founded in their hometown of Iphofen in Germany. Its permanent exhibition shows plaster casts of many famous archaeological sites and artworks from the Classical world, South America, Asia, and ancient Egypt. And in the newly added wing, the museum hosts a variety of temporary exhibitions on a wide range of cultural topics. This year, that topic is silver jewellery from the Arab Peninsula and the Levant, so I had to see this!

The accompanying book was already a delight (see more about that here), but seeing these pieces in person and being able to observe every detail was, of course, even better. The exhibition is spread over two floors, and I loved the sight of a magnificent dress of as-Salt, Jordan, greeting me in the bright and airy conservatory between the new and the old wing. It circled gently, allowing visitors to admire its detail on every floor, and I personally thought this one of the best ways I have ever seen such a dress displayed. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about: these dresses are huge!

The jewellery pieces themselves were even more beautiful in real life. Polished to a shine, they were placed either lying down or mounted on mannequin heads. The showcases were spacious and accommodated the jewellery well, with each piece allocated enough ‘breathing space’ to be admired without being spread too thin. The only truly incomprehensible thing about the exhibition is the designers’ choice of background colour for the jewellery: detailed and delicate silver pieces become near invisible against the variegated grey background they were placed on. Instead of an even, contrasting colour, this melée of grey made dainty filigree and granulation very hard to see. A background colour for silver does not even have to be black…but I implore anyone thinking about a jewellery exhibition to just not use variegated grey. The jewellery deserves better.

And especially this jewellery, because like I wrote in the book review, you are in for a treat if you have a chance to see this exhibition. It shows many rare pieces that are impossible to find, such as Najd hair ornaments strung on a strip of cotton, superb filigree work from Yemen, and Palestinian ‘iznaq chin chains that made me gasp. The addition of dresses adds colour and life to the showrooms: several beautifully embroidered Bedouin gowns from Tiraz collection and a number of dresses from Peter’s own collection illustrated how adornment goes beyond just jewellery. And I really enjoyed seeing the small cotton pouches attached to Saudi women’s dresses, that once were filled with aromatics such as oudh…such a wonderful way of perfuming oneself.

In addition to the jewellery itself, a short film explained the various techniques of silversmithing in the Levant. This was curated by Salua Qidan of both Tiraz centre and Folkglory Designs. Seeing the jewellery made lifted something of the inevitable static nature of any exhibition, and I found this to be a very valuable addition to the exhibition itself. In the same room where the film could be watched, several fully dressed and adorned mannequins brought jewellery and dress together, and I loved seeing how the two interact.

If you are in the area, or have a possibility of traveling there, you should absolutely go see this exhibition!

Glanz und Geheimnis/Shine and Mystery

Knauf Museum, Iphofen, Germany

March 26 – November 5, 2023

More museum recommendations on personal adornment from North Africa & Southwest Asia? Browse them all here!

Looking for tips on collecting and caring for your collection? Find everything you need here!

Never miss out when a must-have book or exhibition appears? Join the Jewellery List and get regular updates in your inbox!

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.

Magic of Fastening

Magic of Fastening

keeping it together

The Magic of Fastening

The most mundane, everyday things can be transformed into magical objects simply by analogy, and that is what makes this form of magical activities so relatable. Fastening something is one of those acts that can carry a deeper meaning, and the object that goes with it becomes important, too: there is magic in clothing pins!

I talked about the magic of tying and girding in another blog post, and pinning your clothing together works along the same lines. The clothing pins that are used to keep fabric together, can be transformed into very powerful magical objects when they are used in ritual. The analogy is of course very clear: a clothing pin holds two separate pieces of dress together, and so it would also be very useful in rituals to keep persons together. When you fasten a fibula (see how to do that here), you actually have to carry out a number of steps: it does not close automatically by itself. And that is where the magic is, in those acts of deliberately fastening…clothing pins are the perfect object for love-magic!

The Romans already used their pins or fibulas (the Latin word is still in use to indicate these pins) as such. Some 2,000 years ago, you could buy an inscribed fibula to present to a lady: it would say something like ‘Hello, gorgeous!’, or, if you were bolder, ‘mix yourself with me’ – I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what they meant by that! The point is that the fibula would work as a magical tool. [1] Once the lady in question would pin her clothes with it, it was hoped your relationship with her would immediately grow stronger. Some 1,000 years earlier, three imported bronze fibulas were left behind in a shallow pit on the edge of a moor in The Netherlands. They were a gift to the gods, or whatever beings were believed to inhabit that place, and they were a precious gift, too. Those fibulas were imported from Scandinavia and did not form part of traditional dress in what later would become The Netherlands: a treasure worthy of the gods. [2] You’ll see it in the collage below.

Gloomy photo of a swamp with a Bronze Age jewellery hoard

In a different world and a different time, fibulas have a very similar protective power. In Morocco, clothing pins are considered powerful because their sturdy pin has the power to harm the evil eye, a meaning also found widely in the rest of the Maghreb. [3] Many shapes on fibulas are designed to attract good fortune and to keep evil at a distance, while their triangular form alludes to the powers of the number 3 (see more about the magic of numbers in this blog post). Fibulas are also the perfect piece of jewellery to attach amulet boxes to, which would be suspended from either the fibula itself or from the chain between them.

But here as well, their importance as something that holds to halves together, shines through. The fibulas are part of the dowry, given to the bride by her husband and his family, and here the magic of pinning reinforces the bond between both the husband and wife and their respective families. Adorning the bride with her jewellery, including fastening her fibula set, was part of the transformative magic in Libya, which would accompany the bride during her transition from unmarried girl to married woman. [4]

And that power of fastening is found as a theme in other parts of the world, too. Belt buckles function in much the same way: they, too, hold something together. As such, it became very popular as a form in European rings from the 17th century onwards. The belt buckle symbolized eternal love and loyalty – even beyond death, which is why you will also find it in mourning rings. Together with the shape of the ring itself as an endless cycle, the belt buckle firmly connects two halves for all eternity.

So whether it is clothing pins or belt buckles: by fastening something, humans have tried to influence the natural course of events for millennia!


Find out more about the histories behind amulets in the e-course on Amulets and Magic in Jewellery!

Or start by downloading the free e-book on amulets and jewellery here.

More posts on jewellery and amulets? Browse them all here!

Join the Jewellery List and receive new articles, jewellery news and more in your inbox!

References

[1] Peter Wells notes that fibulas in Europe’s prehistory, when they are depicted, are always shown ‘open’, and wonders if that has something to do with magic: nothing is definitive yet, nothing is sealed, the future is open. Wells 2012, How Ancient Europeans Saw the World, p.111.

[2] I wrote about these in Bos, J. & S. van Roode 2019. Landschap vol Leven. BLKVLD Uitgevers Publishers.

[3] Cynthia Becker, Amazigh Textiles and Dress in Morocco. Metaphors of Motherhood, in: African Arts vol 39 no. 6 (2006), p. 44

[4] Elena Schenone Alberini, Las mujeres Libias en la litteratura oral. Ritos de paso y roles de genero, in: Orafrica no 6, 2010.

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.

Silberschmuck aus Nubien

Silberschmuck aus Nubien

Collection of Wolfgang and Sibylle Mayer

Silberschmuck aus Nubien

Silver jewellery from Nubia is a category of jewellery that has not received all that much attention throughout the years, and so a new book on this beautiful heritage is very welcome! Silberschmuck aus Nubien is devoted to the private collection of Sibylle and Wolfgang Mayer.

This collection was built up over decades by Wolfgang and Sibylle Mayer, a German couple living and working on the island of Elephantine in the south of Egypt, opposite the town of Aswan, and elsewhere in Egypt. The book opens with the ‘how’ of collecting: I’m always interested in what triggered collectors to fall in love with a certain type of jewellery, and here it is living in, and falling in love with, a culture. Having been in Aswan myself many times, both for work and for holiday sojourns, reading this book brought back so many memories.

I very much appreciated that it looks beyond jewellery itself to its people: the first chapters introduce life in Nubia briefly, and describe the fundamental changes in both the countryside itself and their impact on its inhabitants as a result of the Aswan Dam. Much of Nubia was flooded permanently and people were forced to relocate, which had an impact on lifestyle and thus on jewellery. Understanding that background is important to appreciating jewellery that belongs in it. Speaking of cultural background, I loved how the book also shows the decoration on not just jewellery, but on houses and utensils, too: jewellery is as much part of material culture as anything else.

The book itself is beautifully designed. Each chapter opens with a large black and white photograph of jewellery being worn, and then goes on to show a variety of silver jewellery that you will not find easily anywhere else. Bracelets, pendants, coin jewellery, anklets, earrings, nose rings, finger rings….in many forms and designs, as well as beautifully designed silver kohl needles. There are some truly remarkable pieces to be admired in this book: the imitation coin jewellery is very rare, as are several of the amulets shown.

Much of the collection was purchased in Aswan and in Cairo. That explains why there is a large body of jewellery in the book that is Egyptian, but not necessarily Nubian: zār jewellery. [1] The author explicitly states that he believes the majority of his collection may actually be from Middle and Lower Egypt (notably Cairo) [p. 75], and looking at the photos I agree that that is probably the case. The photographs of a zār included in this section are the same as featured in the book on zār by dr. el-Hadidi, or here on this website – which makes sense, as this is a most private event that is rarely photographed. The many examples of zār jewellery in this book are sometimes misidentified, but that does not diminish the value of the photographs: these pages will give you a great overview of the variety in zār pendants with spirit images!

The chapter on zār jewellery links more to Middle and Lower Egypt than to Nubia, but also within the earlier chapters there is a regional variety within Nubia itself that is not addressed. Nubia encompasses quite a large area, and the rings shown on pages 66-67 for example reflect that: there are rings present as worn by the coastal Rashayda tribes, but also from the Nile Valley villages. These regional varieties in jewellery remain unaddressed throughout the book. The bibliography does not mention the work of Griselda Tayib [2] (but frankly, that is really hard to obtain) or Imogen Thurbon [3]: both focus on Sudan, which also includes parts of Nubia. But, as the author writes, collecting with a scholarly goal was never the plan [p. 106] – this is a collection built from the heart, and that passion shines through in every page.

The collection also shows the cultural influences that you’d expect in a trade city as well connected as Aswan: for centuries, trade routes converged here. The schematic drawing of the rosette, which is a staple of Nubian jewellery, as shown on page 27 is actually drawn after a pendant from Oman – but one that ended up in Nubia and fit right in. One of the bracelets on page 45 is from Yemen, and several rings shown are worn on either side of the Red Sea: there is so much that ended up in the souks of Aswan (and also Cairo, of course) that bears testimony to this long history of trade and connection!

And what I found the most wonderful thing to read are the future plans for this collection! When you have been following this blog for a while, you know my greatest concern is not what is happening to jewellery today, but what will become of it in the future. (and if you’re new to this blog: there is more about that here). What will happen to collected jewellery when its collectors are no longer there? How will it continue to speak for the people who created it? For this collection, there is a clear plan in place: the couple have promised large parts of their collection to a yet to be realized museum on the history of Nubia in Wadi Halfa. Seeing this heritage return home eventually, where it will be integrated in the many stories of living and working in this part of the world, is simply inspiring.

Silberschmuck aus Nubien is a great visual reference book for anyone interested in jewellery from southern Egypt and northern Sudan! The beautiful photography allows you to zoom in on details, and the collection is just stunning. This book does much to spark the enthousiasm for Nubian silver jewellery and to keep it visible and admired: particularly with a relatively unknown category of traditional jewellery, that is no small feat. And if you do not read German, I know you will love it for its photographs and the wide variety of jewellery alone!

Silberschmuck aus Nubien. Ein fast verlorenes Kulturgut. By Wolfgang Mayer, 2021.

Full colour, 111 pages, in German. Published by Edition esefeld & traub, Stuttgart.

Available with the publisher and via Amazon.

The book was purchased in the museum shop of the Schmuckmuseum in Pforzheim.

Never miss out on a new book review? Join the Jewellery List and have them sent to your inbox!

Looking for background information on your jewellery? Have a look at the courses – there’s so much available on the world of the jewellery you love!

More tips on collection management? Check this free resource or download the e-book!

References

[1] Full disclaimer: I’m close to finishing my PhD-research into zār jewellery and as such have seen more of them and read more about these than can be reasonably expected of anyone else who wants to keep their sanity. When it’s published, hopefully in the near future, this link will refer to it: the collection shown in Silberschmuck aus Nubien is absolutely wonderful and informative regardless!

[2] Griselda Tayib, Regional Costumes of Sudan: see more here

[3] Imogen Thurbon runs the informative website Women’s Literacy Sudan: see this post for example on hair braiding in Sudan

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.

A Life In Jewels

A Life In Jewels

Liber Amicorum for Diana Scarisbrick

A Life in Jewels

What do you get a world-renowned jewellery historian for her birthday? The gift of knowledge: a gorgeous book with essays on a wide variety of jewellery topics by her friends! That is what A Life in Jewels is: a book to honour Diana Scarisbrick on her 94th birthday.

And it is a treasure! Nineteen chapters deal with European jewellery studies in all timeframes and from a variety of angles. As these are all essays from a jewellery historian point of view, instead of an art historian perspective, each contribution is an inspiring example of the stories that can be told when jewellery is placed in context. The oldest period included is the Roman period, where we read about the power of the gaze on Roman imperial gems. Staring is impolite pretty much all over the world, and in this essay you’ll read more about what the Romans thought of those staring eyes of tiny carved portraits. Added bonus for me is that several of the gems shown are now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, The Netherlands, so I can walk over and see them in person! The next essay zooms in on classical (and neoclassical) gems as well, but from a collectors’ point of view: what can we learn about a collector by studying both their collections and the way they assembled them?

A late Medieval type of jewel is addressed in the essay on heart-shaped brooches from the 15th century, a category of jewellery that has received little coherent attention. I really appreciated how this chapter outlines possibilities for further research on these beautiful pieces: if anyone is looking for a research topic, this is your cue! One of my favourite chapters is the essay on jewellery theft in early modern London: this reads like nothing short of a crime novel – and also presents several examples of how difficult it is to identify jewels based on a description from a different timeframe: what on earth is ‘a gem like a pigeon’? (p. 63)

Closer to home for me was the essay on jewellery in two portraits of Sophia de Vervou: these are located in The Netherlands, and I wished I had read this essay back when I first saw them! Every bejeweled detail is unpicked, explained and placed in the context of other information surviving about Sophia’s life, down to the collar of her dog – this essay brings the woman on the portraits to life. Claims to power are expressed in jewellery in the chapter on the Stuart court in Rome, where medallions with portraits of throne pretenders James and Charles (yes, that’s the Bonnie Prince) were created by Italian craftsmen and sold to supporters.

Jewellery also serves as memory of notable events, as the essay on commemorative rings illustrates: rings commemorating the storming of the Bastille, which launched the French Revolution, or patriotic rings from Poland and Hungary, are just a few examples that carry world history and tell us more about the allegiances of its wearers. And there is so much more in this book: a portrait of Lord Petersham wearing a bat pendant, the gorgeous rings in the Musee Carnavalet, the sapphires of Queen Victoria, the close relation between illuminated manuscripts and the enameled jewellery by Falize, down to modern design and gardens in jewellery, via the French crown jewels and a splendid Chaumet tiara…in every essay, you’ll find a new angle to place jewellery in context. The only chapters that were difficult to read for me are the two contributions in Italian – but for a glimpse on unpublished gems and cameos, I’ll happily whisk out my dictionary!

Obviously, there is much to be learned from the individual chapters, but its real power to me is the joy of researching jewellery and sharing findings that is almost palpable on every single page. All contributions breathe enthusiasm for both the topic at hand and the person this book is dedicated to. And indeed, we owe Diana Scarisbrick a great debt for her never-ending passion for jewellery research – she still has yet another book in the works, and I can only hope to be blessed with that same energy should I ever be reaching her age. The book contains her impressive bibliography as well, which I’m sure will get you looking for several titles to add to your library! The volume is beautifully illustrated throughout with large, full-colour photographs.

If you are involved with European jewellery in any way, as a curator, collector, scholar or dealer, you will want to own this fabulous birthday present: this gift of knowledge to the woman who inspired so many scholars of jewellery is a beautiful gift to yourself.

A Life In Jewels. Liber Amicorum in honour of Diana Scarisbrick. Edited by Beatriz Chadour-Sampson, Sandra Hindman and Carla van de Puttelaar, 2022.

Full colour, 279 pages, in English, with contributions in French and Italian. Published by Ad Ilissum/Paul Holberton, with the gracious assistance of Les Enluminures.

Available with the publisher.

The book was received as review copy from the publisher.

More book recommendations on personal adornment and history…? Click here to see my other picks for you!

Never miss out on a new book review? Join the Jewellery List and have them sent to your inbox!

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.

What is ‘Kuchi jewellery’?

What is ‘Kuchi jewellery’?

Afghanistan adornment

What is ‘Kuchi’ jewellery?

It’s a popular term: ‘Kuchi jewellery’, a firm favourite in so-called tribal fusion dance costumes. Also spelled Koochi or Kochi, it often refers to jewellery with colourful glass insets, broadly coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan. But what does ‘Kuchi’ mean?

An umbrella term Basically, ‘Kuchi’ is not a specific people, but a generic term used for a wide range of peoples in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan and Iran. [1] The word ‘kuch’ itself is Farsi and means ‘migration’. The term is used widely these days, both in the region itself and by cultural outsiders, but as you might expect, ‘Kuchi’ is not what those peoples called themselves. This is also where it gets complicated when it comes to jewellery research, because as ‘Kuchi’ is a relatively recent term, you will not find references to ‘Kuchi jewellery’ in any of the older standard works on jewellery from Afghanistan. [2]

The geographic area inhabited by the peoples called ‘Kuchi’ today is incredibly complex when it comes to tribal, cultural and ethnic identities and affiliations. I wrote a little about the difficulties of pinning just one label on jewellery here, and those difficulties apply to ‘Kuchi jewellery’ as well. Political, social, religious and cultural changes in the past decades have left their mark on the many peoples living in this region as well as on borders of countries. The Pashtun are the largest group, but Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Baluch and Hazara people live in current-day Afghanistan as well. As a result of decades of war, many have fled to Pakistan and further afield – it is impossible to capture the details and the effects of recent history in one short blog post, but a list of resources to start reading is here.

Jewellery So where does that leave ‘Kuchi jewellery’? Under this umbrella term, many styles and people who wore these items ressort. The jewellery styles share a visual language with the western Himalayas and are worn as far away as northern India as well. There is no straightforward, clear distinction in attributing jewellery items in a region with such a kaleidoscope of peoples, shifting allegiances and changing spheres of influence. An in-depth study of the jewellery we simply call ‘Kuchi’ today could shed light on all of these aspects, as jewellery is a powerful historic source.

Alfred Janata has attempted to provide an overview as best he could in his book on Afghan jewellery. The ornaments with red, green and blue glass that are most often labeled as ‘kuchi’ were mainly sold in Khost in the eastern Afghan province of Paktya, but created in Pakistan: once again, current-day borders are not synonym with cultural differences. According to Janata, these ornaments were worn by nomadic women who either spent the winter season in Paktya or whose migration routes crossed this province. [3]. Ornaments with smaller inlays of green and red glass (so not blue) were called Katawaz according to Janata, and may have been worn by nomadic women traveling between the winter pastures in Paktya and Katawaz, where the summer pastures were located. [4] The famous chokers with glass inlays and dangles were worn mainly by the Pashtun in the south and southeast of Afghanistan [5], and so the book provides an overview of Afghanistan’s jewellery heritage.

New meanings Nowadays, the jewellery pieces offered as ‘kuchi’ are usually entirely newly produced, due to the high demand for these pieces in the West. In these, a new colour palette emerges: pink, neon green, purple or bright yellow glass have been added to the original colour schemes. The use of uniform colours in jewellery pieces is also indicative of new production: pieces executed in one colour only, notably the popular chokers, are almost certainly newly made. Actual vintage pieces have become increasingly rare. That is not simply a matter of ‘fake’ items: creating and selling jewellery is the main source of income for many displaced people in this war-torn region. It has become a symbol of identity proudly worn by Afghans in the diaspora. In that respect, the term ‘kuchi’ has taken on new meaning: from a term coined by cultural outsiders with little to no regard for the differences (and similarities!) of the many cultural groups in the region, it has evolved into a term used by people from Afghanistan as well to represent their cultural heritage. [6]

So, while ‘Kuchi jewellery’ remains a generic term for the jewellery styles of many social groups in Afghanistan and beyond, a group of jewellery that needs much more detailed research to pinpoint their similarities and differences, one thing is clear: it is an expression of heritage and identity for many.

Never miss a thing on jewellery news? Join the Jewellery List and find them in your inbox each month!

Looking for background information on your jewellery? Have a look at the courses – there’s so much available on the world of the jewellery you love!

More tips on collection management and research? Check this free resource or download the e-book!

References

[1] Tapper, R. 2008. Who are the Kuchi? Nomad self-identities in Afghanistan, in: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14, pp. 97-116.

[2] Janata, A. 1981. Schmuck in Afghanistan, does not mention ‘Kuchi’ for example – the term was not used as widely as it is today. Neither do Stuckert & Bucherer-Dietschi  1981, Schmuck und Silberschmiedearbeiten in Afghanistan und Zentralasien : Schmuck in Sammlungen, Bibliotheca Afghanica, which has an emphasis on Turkmen jewellery in Afghanistan.

[3] Janata 1981, p. 68.

[4] Janata 1981, p. 70.

[5] Janata 1981, p. 74.

[6] Among many other things: the adaptation of the world ‘kuchi’ has many other implications, as the article by Tapper explores.

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.