Tunisian jewellery
Gilded and enameled pendants from Djerba
Published Feb 07, 2024
A selection of pendants from Tunisia, that show how jewellery may be reflecting the world of its wearers in its design. These illustrate the relation you might not think of immediately: that between jewellery, and architecture.
A set of Djerba pendants
In the gallery above, you’ll see a series of photos of a collection of square pendants. They were collected in Sousse, Tunisia, and clicking on the images will enlarge them, so you can take in their gorgeous details.
What do we know of these? All of them are made of silver. The majority have been gilded, and some are finely embellished with enamel. Enameling is characteristic of jewellery from Djerba: according to Gargouri-Sethom the art of enameling almost disappeared after the second World War, when many Jewish craftspeople moved to Israel. [1]
These pendants would be worn in sets of five, on a necklace with coral and lapis lazuli beads strung on woolen cord. The ensemble is called malāb (sometimes also spelled malaab) and was worn in Djerba, Tunisia. [2] A red fabric backing makes the design stand out even more: in an original stringing, it would match the red woolen cord.
Djerba necklace: reading the design
That design is after the mihrab or prayer niche. [3] This is the niche in every mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca. That is the direction that is prayed in, so this is a primary architectural element. It is often beautifully ornamented. Including it in jewellery brings the necklace and its wearer into the realm of faith and religion.
And there are more elements that serve to enhance its meaning. As you see (click on an image to enlarge it), each pendant repeats the mihrab motif three times, and has three dangles.
The presence of five of these on the necklace is also significant: it refers to the 5 daily prayers and the 5 pillars of Islam. The deliberate inclusion of the number five is another form of wearing a khamsa.
See why a khamsa does not always have to be in the shape of a hand here.
The red fabric and woolen cord also help keep evil at a distance: the colour red has been used as primary colour to fight evil for millennia.
Djerba pendants: the value of collecting
As you see, these are all different, even if ever so slightly: their collectors loved the shapes and collected them for their differences, not to complete a set. That is another angle of collecting than striving for completion and perfection: the choices you make as a collector have an impact on what a collection is going to look like.
So, these may not contain a complete set, but they certainly do hold information value. They showcase the variety and the skill of the craftsmen that made these, and in that way this collection adds to our understanding of Tunisian jewellery beautifully.
And they also tell us what happened to these necklaces. Eventually they were broken up and their beautiful coral and lapis lazuli beads sold individually. The pendants have been sold separately as well for a long time, and found their way into the available literature as such, too. [4]
So you see, even loose bits and pieces may contribute to the history of its wearers!
These pendants are in the Van Dam-Canton Tunisian heritage collection of the Qilada Foundation.
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References
[1] S. Gargouri-Sethom1986, Le Bijou Traditionnel en Tunisie, Edisud, p. 50.
[2] N. Baklouti, Les bijoux d’Argent de Tunisie, Office National de l’ Artisanat, p. 124.
[3] N. Baklouti, Les bijoux d’Argent de Tunisie, Office National de l’ Artisanat p. 124; Les Bijoux de Tunisie, Dunes Editions, p. 146.
[4] Les Bijoux de Tunisie, Dunes Editions, p. 152 also shows individual, different pendants as collected items.
S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].
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.