Dictionnaire des Bijoux

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

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.

Intricacy and doves

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Objects

A bracelet from tunisia

Intricacy and doves

This is the first installment in the series ‘Objects in Detail’: what stories does this Tunisian bracelet hold?

Silver bracelet from Tunisia, showing two registers with engraved doves.

What do we see? This is a silver bracelet from Tunisia. Its name is swar, which means ‘bracelet’, and it comes from the region of Médenine and Tatouine. [1] First, let’s look at what we see. It has a beautiful and elaborate decoration: a raised, horizontal band divides the bracelet in two halves, and on each half three large panels are visible. The central panel shows an intricate geometrical pattern, and on the two side panels a sweet dove looks at us. The panels are separated by a small decorated vertical band, and the panels with the doves are bordered by a horizontal band above them. When you look closely at the central band, you will see its decoration is worn. That also goes for the upper rim, which has become thinner and smoother. That tells us that this bracelet has been worn regularly. It would have been part of a bride’s dowry, and by the looks of it, she loved wearing it!

Reading the bracelet: the engraving. Like almost all jewellery, the decoration on this bracelet is not just pretty: it is supposed to do something. The intricate pattern on the central panel is designed to confuse evil. [2] Complexity always is meant to achieve that goal – apparently evil is easily distracted. Give it something shiny and it will focus on that, confront it with complex patterns and it will lose its way and forget it was coming for you. I wrote a little about that in this blog post on knots – these do the same thing. The doves, rendered here in a super cute form, are called asfur, and feature on many pieces of jewellery. They are bringers of good luck and blessings [3] and so this bracelet does two things: it keeps evil at a distance, and attracts good fortune for the wearer.

Look beyond the jewellery Jewellery is meant to be worn, not to be admired as standalone object. It is first and foremost directly related to the body, and placing it there can have the location of engravings making even more sense. If you consider for a moment how this bracelet looks when worn (imagine it on your wrist) the central panel is what stands out. This is what you see first, and that makes it the perfect place to add a first line of defense against any forces that might wish the wearer harm. That same principle works outside of jewellery, too: in the image above you’ll see an intricate design around the window of a Tunisian home. This works in exactly the same way: any and all evil that might want to enter the house will get stuck in the maze of lines. The same principles apply to both jewellery and other things you want to keep safe.

…and even further This bracelet is from Tunisia, but it tells us more about its wider cultural family. And it does that through its shape. The same basic lay-out, a manchet with a central raised band, is found all over North Africa. The design into six panels is also visible, for example, on a pair of bracelets shown above. They were made in Cairo, and worn in Siwa oasis as well as Libya. While the individual details vary and are usually typical to a region, the main lay-out is similar. This in turn places jewellery in a wider cultural perspective. As I wrote earlier, the borders present on the map today are relatively recent. These bracelets reflect the transnational cultural identity of the Amazigh people, and their permanent exchange of ideas, languages, people, and things across the trans-Sahara network of trade routes. [4]

So here you see how a bracelet can share so much, ranging from the individual woman that once wore it to the region of the continent she lived in: jewellery is a historic source!

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References

[1] Baclouti, N. (no year), Les Bijoux d’argent de Tunisie. Office National de l’Artisanat, p. 180-181, also Gargouri-Sethom, S. 2005, Les Bijoux de Tunisie. Dunes Editions, p. 107. Please note that as this is transcribed from Arabic, you will find the same name spelled as ‘suar’, ‘souar’, ‘suwar’, ‘aswar’ and ‘iswar’ (and probably a few more varieties of this). See more on how that works in this blog post.

[2] A parallel piece with identical geometrical designs can be seen in Gargouri-Sethom 2005, p. 106.

[3] Gargouri-Sethom, S. 1986. Le Bijoux Traditionnel en Tunisie, Edisud, p. 97

[4] Gargouri-Sethom, S. 1994, Les Arts Populaires en Tunisie, Agence Nationale d’Exploitation du Patrimoine, p. 89, mentions how in the south of Tunisia, jewellery closely resembles that of Libya.

Sigrid van Roode

Berber Memories

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Reviews

Berber Memories

private collection

Berber Memories

Updated August 11, 2024

It has been some time since an overview of Amazigh jewellery has been published, but the latest publication of a private collection is not to be missed! The impressive volume Berber Memories presents the stunning Gillion Crowet-collection in nearly 600 wonderfully illustrated pages.

Berber Memories: the outline

The collection itself has been assembled by the couple Anne-Marie and Roland Gillion Crowet during 5 decades of travel in Morocco. It consists of hundreds of spectacular objects, all provided with a caption by their daughter, Nathalie de Merode.

The text of this hefty volume (it weighs several kilos!) is by renowned art historian Michel Draguet. The book is divided into two parts, and I will walk you through both of them to give you an idea of the scope of this publication.

Before we start, it is important to note that the author is an art historian, as opposed to for example an anthropologist or ethnographer. This difference is most noticeable in his choice of words, for example in his treatment of the topic ‘Ornamentation vs Decoration’ (p. 47): the discourse presented there is based on Western theoretical approaches of art. The emic perspective, how the Amazigh themselves experience their jewellery, is not explicitly included here or elsewhere in the book (the acknowledgements do extend heartfelt thanks to quite a number of knowledgeable people).

Speaking of Amazigh, the book consistently uses the word ‘Berber’: although the Amazigh have been rejecting the word ‘Berber’ for quite some time now and reclaim their own name, this is not addressed. It struck me as odd, as this book does much to celebrate Amazigh history and culture.

Berber Memories: Part 1, ‘Gazing’

The first part is an excellent introduction into Amazigh history. Where other jewellery books do not include Amazigh history or present it briefly, here the author takes his time to explore. This is incredibly valuable, as it is a history of exchange, cultural contacts, and adaptations to changing climate circumstances, all of which have left their mark on jewellery traditions.

What is more, this history is not presented as indisputable facts: where conflicting views exist, these are briefly introduced, enabling the reader to obtain a sense of both the ‘unknowns’ of history as well as of the way how any historical tale is shaped by the cultural background of those that write it.

What emerges is a portrait of the Amazigh people not as a monolithic entity, but as an ever-changing, rich ‘pluralistic culture’ (p. 79). Starting out in the Neolithic, the book discusses interaction across the Sahara all the way to Egypt, and later with Phoenician and Roman cultures, followed by the Arab conquests and their profound consequences for the Amazigh, the rise and fall of Amazigh empires, the balance between nomads and city-dwellers, Jews and Muslims, and the adapting and improving of techniques like for example enameling.

The author uses jewellery to illustrate his point at regular intervals, such as the balanced discussion of the khamsa, produced by Jewish craftsmen, worn by Jews and Muslims alike, and incorporating much older beliefs. All in all, this part provides insight in the venerable time-depth of Amazigh history.

Berber Memories: Part 2: ‘Feeling’

The second part introduces the world of women. Here, jewellery is combined with poetry, craftmanship and body aesthetic to illustrate its place in a wider context. This is a hugely important factor that I can’t emphasize enough: jewellery does not exist in a vacuum.

It is closely related to rug making, basketry, clothing, body aesthetic and oral traditions. This wider significance is touched upon here and there in the book, by likening jewellery patterns and styles to other examples of personal adornment and objects in the personal space.

Also introduced are the uses of jewellery as capital, as amulet and as status indicator, before moving to the jewellery pieces themselves.

The collection is presented regionally, starting out in the north and ending in the south. Each section starts with a map of the area, which I love: this way, you’ll get a sense of where the jewellery comes from and how jewellery designs are interrelated. Additionally, on the inside of the cover you will find a map of Morocco, on which jewellery items and drawings of regional dress by Jean Besancenot have been placed –a very helpful visual tool to get a general idea of main regional differences for anyone unfamiliar with the wide variety of Amazigh jewellery in Morocco.

Throughout the book, the historic photographs of Besancenot and others have been paired with the jewellery items shown, which makes for a visual dialogue between the black-and-white photographs and the splendor of the colour images of jewellery.

Berber Memories: the collection Gillion Crowet

Part 2 continues with the presentation of the collection – and what a superb collection it is! Iconic fibulas, stunning headdresses and head ornaments, sumptuous necklaces and rich bracelets form the vast majority of the collection. Each of these has been expertly photographed and displayed in such a manner that the wide variety of techniques, colours and shapes can be fully appreciated.

A very strong point of the collection is that it shows variety within the same type of ornament: for example, the famous worm-hole fibulas are represented by no less than 40 pages with nearly as many different pairs. I find this to be very instructive for the way we look at jewellery. There is not one ‘standard type’ with a ‘standard composition’, which somehow excludes other executions of the same sort of ornament as ‘not right’. See more about how that line of thinking comes about in this article.

The collection Gillion Crowet illustrates the point abundantly, by showing us a wide range of ever so slightly differing jewellery items within a singular type. Here, the art historian expertise of the author is to the advantage of the reader: his descriptions guide the eye and enable us to take in details, appreciate choices made by the craftsmen and see the evolving of styles.

Alongside these jewels, there is a vast amount of information about production centers, techniques used, materials sourced and traded, interwoven with meaning and power attributed to shapes and styles. We learn how climatic, economic and political factors caused silversmiths to relocate, trade centers to flourish or dwindle, and techniques to travel: an exceptional view on the background of these jewellery items.

Berber Memories: the meaning of jewellery

The meaning of patterns, colours and materials to their wearers varies immensely, not only over time but also geographically. This is partly due to the manner in which knowledge about meaning, magic and power is transmitted, both within the culture and certainly to cultural outsiders.

What is a meaningful shape in one region may carry less importance in the next, and what an older generation recognized as significant may have changed for a younger generation.

Another reason for this variety in agency is because it is attributed to objects by humans: they do not intrinsically carry it, which is why they lose their voice if their meaning is no longer understood. Naturally, these meanings and powers attributed to material forms evolve over time, following changing circumstances of the cultures that bring them forth. The book deals with this given in a number of cases, by presenting varying explanations for one and the same shape simultaneously.

This results in a overview of what individual shapes might mean, instead of presenting these as sole truths. Examples are the well-reasoned discussion about the possibly anthropomorphic elements known as atnarich (p. 312), the meaning attached to amber (p. 350) and many other elements.

Berber Memories: a few critical observations

Notwithstanding the importance of this volume, there are a few critical observations to made as well. Every now and then little inconsistencies pop up, like the assertion that Amazigh necklaces ‘generally feature enameled pendants’ (p. 128): the abundance of jewellery without enameled pendants in the book proves otherwise.

Some attributions I can’t quite follow as well, like the statement that the support system of a particular head ornament with three hooks is based on the ‘bulla etrusca model’ (p. 332) – I fail to see the connection, or how an Etruscan chest pendant of 300 BC would be the model for the ‘support system’ of this head ornament. Perhaps there is a similarity that I’m missing, but the direct linkage of Etruscan piece as model for a type of Amazigh jewellery without presenting solid proof of continuation in between is a step too far for me.

Berber Memories – an invaluable reference source

I highly recommend, no, I urge you to buy this book before this, too, becomes one of those sought after out-of-print books that we all know so well: it is remarkably friendly priced for such an important volume. The collection of jewellery presented is outstanding and a testimony to the long and rich cultural history of the Amazigh. Together with the wide historical overview, the wealth of old photographs and the detailed information per region this monumental book constitutes an invaluable reference source for the finest of Amazigh jewellery.

Berber Memories. Women and Jewellery in Morocco (2021). By Michel Draguet.

600 pages, full-colour, available in both French and English.

Available through the publisher Mercatorfonds, distributor Yale University Press and all major bookstores (online and offline).

The book was gifted as advance review copy by the publisher. Images sourced from the publishers’ website.

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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, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. 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.

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