A private jewellery collection

Joyería Amazig/Amazigh jewellery

Published on November 3, 2024

Another private collection that sees the light of day: in an exhibition and a catalogue! The collection of Amazigh jewellery collected by Spanish ambassador Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo has been the focus of an exhibition in Granada, and its accompanying catalogue Joyería Amazig presents an overview of the collection.

Amazigh jewellery: neighbours

With the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa being neighbours, separated only by the street of Gibraltar, both geographical realms share a history. Not only of trade, but of mutual colonisation; the Amazigh kingdoms conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 8^th century, and would control it until the 15^th century, and in Spain held two ‘protectorates’ in Morocco from 1912 to 1952 amidst the French colonisation of the Maghreb.

It is this shared history that the exhibition aims to emphasise with an exhibition on Amazigh jewellery: ‘to understand more about the cultural wealth of the past, and to build bridges towards a future based on respect for and appreciation of diversity’ [p. 11] [1]

Amazigh jewellery: the book

This publication is bilingual in Spanish and English: an excellent choice, as by using two of the major world languages, the collection may reach a wide audience. The book is divided into two main parts. First, an introductory part highlights the cultural background of Amazigh jewellery. This is followed by the second part, which is the catalogue itself.

The introductory part starts with two essays on the cultural history of the Amazigh, and places these in local context in an essay on the Amazigh in Granada. Given that the exhibition was held in Granada, this chapter truly connects two worlds. The jewellery is then explored by Cynthia J. Becker. Her article uses the collection as a starting point and merges it with her in-depth description of jewellery makers and wearers. I loved how she both includes the broad strokes of history as well as significant local details to place this jewellery collection in its cultural context.

Finally, the ambassador himself details how both his collection and his appreciation for jewellery grew – as you know, it is important to get some idea of the circumstances of collecting and the personal preferences of the collector. This helps understand the collection itself and to compare it with others: each collector holds one piece of the total puzzle, and so having a chapter on the collection history is most valuable. In this case, the starting point was his own culture: the presence of Spanish coins in clothing pins.

The collection: a mixture of pieces

In this case, the collection embraces mostly relatable pieces. Where you will often find catalogues with high-end, exceptional pieces (because that is what the collector is aiming for, and which leave out the more common pieces), these pages reflect the transitional stages of jewellery: the jewellery available in the market today, and their changing interpretations.

Both older and newer jewellery sit side by side with restrung or altered pieces, like the Draa temporal ornament reworked into a pendant [p. 222]. There are also several chimeras or composite pieces in the collection, like the diadem shown on p. 200: this has been constructed of two different bands placed on top of each other, crowned with an upside-down positioned fibula. [2] This has been constructed for the market for cultural outsiders: it would not have been worn as such by the Amazigh community.

That is also the case with the multi-strand necklaces shown on pp 244-245: these are relatively recent compositions, and not part of traditional dress. [3] Creations like these showcase the evolving nature of jewellery from an economical point of view: a way to make a living. Those alterations come in various forms, and are not automatically a bad thing: see how that works and 5 practical tips on how to spot alterations here.

However, the catalogue does not differentiate between these newer and older pieces, and that is a serious drawback. None of the captions gives a date for the piece shown: the publication definitely does not claim all pieces are indeed old, but does not point out when they are younger, either. There are also no reflections on cultural authenticity, which in several cases might have helped to avoid misunderstandings.

A wide variety of jewellery

Personally, I liked the overview of fibulas that have coins as their main decorative element. Coin jewellery may tell us a lot about its wearers, as I describe here.  7 pages with a series of fibulas carrying Spanish coins present a selection that you will not find as easily elsewhere – here, the focus of the collector brings us another angle through which to study jewellery. The drawback is that of all objects in the catalogue, these lack a proper description. For a Spanish person, these coins are probably easily recognisable and datable, but I’ll need to spend a little more time comparing the images to Spanish coinage through the centuries.

The variety of the collection is wide: I loved the variety in fabric headbands with all sorts of decoration stitched on (although I’m not entirely sure all of them are in authentic configuration), you’ll find several examples of large fibula sets, but also a selection of tiny amulets…there are pieces from Mauritania to Libya and I spent a good time going over all of them.

A noteworthy point of the book is that it zooms out to the transregional elements of Amazigh jewellery on occasion. A temporal pendant from Libya for example is compared to both Moroccan and Tunisian examples [p. 237, only in text, not with images], and while all three are different, their common ancestry is not often addressed directly, so I liked that this was touched upon, however briefly.

Joyería Amazig

The focus of this book is, understandably given the position of the collector, on Morocco, but incidentally you will find pieces from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya as well. It is abundantly illustrated: landscapes, rock art, architecture, paintings and photos of people allow you to appreciate the context of the jewellery.

That being said, there is no reflection on the nature of some of these images: colonial postcards and Orientalising paintings are included without further discussion.Some of these have been made under duress, and not all of them are to be considered reliable sources: personally, I feel that the images chosen for a book should be considered with as much care as the text itself.

The artists’ drawings of jewellery throughout the book are simply beautiful: the drawing on the cover is just one example (although those touches of verdigris are a bit unsettling on such a beautiful piece!) There are many more, and I liked their dreamy rendering of beautiful jewels.

The introductory chapters are well written, and contain a wealth of knowledge about Amazigh history and culture, which is so important when looking at jewellery in its context. The book reflects the changing market for jewellery, and pays attention to the more modest pieces. It is these ‘humbler’ items that stand to disappear first, because collectors do not always value these: see the 4 filters of collecting explained here.

I also appreciated that the catalogue part dedicates a single page to every item, allowing you to see it in full. Each piece of jewellery is presented against a black or cream-coloured background, so they really stand out.

However, caution is needed if you’d want to use this as a reference book: like I said, the captions do not clarify the age of the pieces and also do not address the possibility of pieces being composed and rearranged from older elements. When researching exact details of individual pieces, you’ll need to cross-check information in this book with other sources.

Joyería Amazig is an overview of a personal collection. The chapters on its cultural context in the first part of the book add value; the catalogue needs to be considered with caution.

More about Joyería Amazig

Joyería Amazig: identidad de los pueblos beréberes – Amazigh jewelry: identity of the Berber Peoples

Various authors, 2024. 348 pages, full colour, bilingual in Spanish/English

Published by El legado andalusí.

Available with the publisher: to order, fill out the email form under ‘solicitar información’ and the publisher will get back to you with a quote for shipping costs. (the field ‘correo electronico’ is where you leave your email address)

I received the book digitally as review copy. In all transparency: I received a low resolution pdf to review, and have not seen the printed book itself. I can’t tell you anything about the technical execution of the book, the quality of the images, or show you what it looks like inside – just so you know!

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References

[1] I think it’s page 11, the introductory part of the book has no page numbering.

[2] Probably a belt element as shown in Benfoughal, T. 1997, Bijoux et Bijoutiers de l’Aures, p. 162-164, combined with a diadem and the body of a fibula.

[3] As discussed by Alaa Eddine Sagid, curator of the MAP Marrakech, on Facebook-group Ethnic Jewels Community, May 13, 2021.

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