Jewellery and the senses: smell

Jewellery and the senses: smell

by | General jewellery topics

Sensory research

Jewellery and the senses: smell

Published on December 13, 2024

Ethnic jewellery is often studied for its aesthetic, symbolic, and material qualities. But there is much more to it, that is difficult to study from a book or when a jewel is lying in a museum case…and that is the sensory experiences it evokes for its wearers and the people around it. And imagine, for archaeological jewellery that is even harder, as there is no one left to ask! So, I wanted to introduce the relationship between jewellery and the senses: what did a piece of jewellery mean for its wearer? And what do we miss out as researchers and collectors, coming from another culture or timeframe? In this third article, we’ll look at smell.

Why study jewellery and smell?

Smell is an incredibly powerful sense, even if it is invisible and fleeting. The perfume industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry globally, and just the simple fact that people are willing to pay for the sensation of spritzing themselves with a perfume which will inevitably dissipate, tells you something about that importance. It’s temporary, it does not last… but we do want it.

In North Africa and Southwest Asia in particular, the use of fragrant materials is part of ancient cultural, social, and religious traditions. Understanding this dimension of adornment not only enriches our appreciation of these pieces, but also offers new ways that we may look at jewellery.

So, what is it about the olfactory dimension of jewellery? How may we explore and understand something that has gone…?

Smell: scent and its significance in the Middle East

In North Africa and the Middle East, scent is more than an aesthetic pleasure; it is a vital part of daily life, social customs, and religious practices. Fragrance is considered a means of purification, an enhancer of personal allure, and a medium for spiritual connection.

The Prophet Muhammad himself is said to have cherished perfumes, and the use of scent holds an esteemed place in Islamic tradition. The Qur’an and hadiths mention the value of pleasant aromas, especially in ritual contexts such as prayer and preparation for worship.

Culturally, the importance of fragrance is inseparable from concepts of hospitality and intimacy. Homes in the Arab Peninsula are often infused with bakhoor (incense) to welcome guests, while perfumed oils are applied to skin and hair as acts of personal grooming and, again, devotion. These practices underscore a shared belief that fragrance enhances the human connection—whether between individuals, families, or the divine.

How all this works, is explained in the course on Scents in the Middle East!

Wearing scent: jewellery that smells

Jewellery often incorporates materials and designs intended to diffuse or carry scent. For example, silver amulets and pendants sometimes feature hollow compartments, or small perforated boxes. These are designed to hold scented substances such as musk, ambergris, cotton or wool infused with scented oils, or dried herbs and flowers – anything that smells! These containers allow wearers to carry a personal fragrance throughout the day, linking ornamentation to olfactory meaning.

See the meaning and importance of just one example of such a container in this article

Jewellery like this serves not only as decoration, but also as powerful amulet. The scents are believed to ward off the evil eye, a pervasive belief throughout the region. The protective power of these fragrances complements the talismanic role of the jewellery itself.

Adornment and smell: hair, body and dress

In all these contexts, the use of scent in jewellery is closely tied to other scented elements such as dress, hair, and the body itself. After all, layering perfumes was invented in the Middle East! Hair is often cared for with fragrant oils, or indeed scented paste that worked both as a haircare product and modelling agent. Remnants of these pastes can sometimes be found on hair jewellery, as I explain in more detail here.

Items of clothing can be fragranced by fumigating them with incense, and the body itself is cared for with scented oils and perfumes as well: imagine how jewellery once formed part and parcel of this fragrant aura surrounding the wearer!

Jewellery and smell: scent as a research field

So, how to use the sense of smell in jewellery research? After all, most of it is gone…the only thing that remains may be a layer of drab dark residu, or the visual indication that something may have smelled through its design, for example. There are a few ways to go about this:

Look: Awareness of this invisible capacity is key! When you are aware, or may have an inkling or idea, that cultures used fragrance and attached importance to it, actively look for this possibility, too.

Test: Residues of scented oils, resins, or powders can sometimes be detected through scientific methods. Researchers use techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify organic compounds and reconstruct the original scent profile of a piece.

Compare: Examining the cultural and historical context of jewellery can provide clues about whether or not fragrance was used. By that I do not mean to simply slap a capacity of one culture onto another: that never works. What I would suggest however, is that by comparing widely, we may keep an open mind as to what possibilities exist.

Ask: Equally often overlooked, but incredibly important: just ask! Interviews with artisans and communities that still produce traditional jewellery, or that remember how a previous generation made use of this capacity, can get you invaluable insights in how scent was integrated into these pieces.

Jewellery and smell: an invisible world of meaning

Understanding the role of scent in jewellery can deepen our appreciation of the cultural significance of these pieces. Collectors, for example, could consider the olfactory history of their acquisitions as part of their storytelling value: imagine all the stories these pieces could share, about weddings and other festivities, about faith and devotion, about individual preferences and hospitality…all coming together in a piece of jewellery.

In the next installment on the sensory dimensions of jewellery, we’ll be looking at sound!

Read the earlier blogs on the sensory aspects of jewellery here:

Sight

Touch

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References

This blog is based on my book Silver & Frankincense – Scent and Adornment in the Arab world.

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

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].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: 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 jewellery, informal ritual and collections. 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. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

by | Cultures & People, Reviews

Libyan jewellery in depth

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

Published on November 8, 2024

Libya is home to spectacular jewellery, but very few books are currently available on the jewellery heritage of this country. That has now changed with the much-anticipated arrival of Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a book that fills a huge gap – and in more ways than one!

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a personal view

The author of this book, Hala Ghellali, is from Libya herself: she was born and raised in Tripoli. This is where she first encountered silver jewellery as a young woman, when her father took her to the souq to purchase silver bracelets for her. Personal memories like this form the starting point of the book, but Hala’s background is much wider. You may have read her essay in the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium book, for example.

She was schooled in Tripoli, studied in France, and then moved to Italy, Egypt, Syria and finally, the USA. She is fascinated by Libyan history, both the tangible and the intangible (like poetry or proverbs), and has conducted research into jewellery and adornment for years.

What do you get when someone like that writes a book? A super rich, very detailed book that (at least for me) hits all the important nails on the head when it comes to jewellery research.

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: the outline

Let me start with one of my hangups: references. You know I love references! Sharing one’s sources when making a claim is very helpful when one wants a book to contribute to common knowledge, and simply necessary when one wants to enable future research. Jewelry and Adornment of Libya is referenced, and here’s the beauty of it: it references sources in Arabic, Italian, French, and English, and provides clear references as to which silversmith shared which piece of information, anecdote or memory with the author. That is different for Libyan Jewellery – A Journey Through Symbols by Elena Schenone Alberini (1998) for example: this has a bibliography, but is not referenced.  

This kaleidoscope of sources results in a solid basis for the research in this book. Hala effortlessly combines observations from travel diaries with patent books, colonial legislation with oral history and poetry, museum pieces with personal memories. This variety brings you a book that is packed with facts and insights on the context of jewellery – absolutely crucial if we want to understand the jewellery itself.

The book is roughly structured in three main parts: the world of jewellery producers, the world of jewellery wearers, and wedding customs in Tripoli. So, let me take you on a quick tour!

Libyan jewellery: the silversmiths

The first three chapters of the book discuss the history of Libyan silversmithing. Here, the book differs notably from Schenone Alberini’s book: these chapters really dive in the history of jewellery production. First, a chapter on jewellery in archaeological excavations and travel diaries outlines the sources that exist for the history of jewellery in Libya. Interestingly, these also include reports by merchants, shedding light on the transactional context of jewellery: who buys and sells these things, and for how much?

Next is a chapter on the production of jewellery itself, both in its historic context as well as detailing techniques. The wealth of historic background is incredibly enlightening. Just one example is how we learn about the close relations between the Jewish silversmithing communities of both Tripoli and Djerba in Tunisia. As so often the case, colonial borders mess with transregional cultural identities: in the case of Tripoli and Djerba, these two communities became so closely entangled that much of the southern Tunisian jewellery was hallmarked in Tripoli. This chapter picks apart how political and economic developments affected both the Jewish and Muslim silver business over time.

I can’t emphasise enough how relevant this is – I see so many online sources and discussions on social media claiming that a piece of jewellery belongs to either this or that nationality, without consideration for the historical context, that it is nothing short of refreshing to see someone patiently walking us through the history of it all and presenting us with a nuanced, detailed view.

There is much more in this chapter: guild organisation, the various arts and crafts production centres, techniques and forms, terminology used by both Jewish and Muslim jewellery makers, all against their shifting historic and cultural backgrounds.

And then there is hallmarks! You know I adore my copy of World Hallmarks Volume II, the fabulous overview of hallmarks from non-Western countries. But Libya is missing from this overview. Schenone Alberini does present hallmarks and adds drawings of both hallmarks and amin stamps, but has difficulty organising the hallmarks chronologically – another gap sorted with Jewelry and Adornment of Libya. Here, we learn of the development of hallmarks throughout and after the Italian colonial period, the difference between hallmarks and master silversmith stamps, and the challenges in attempting to organise hallmarks diachronically.

Libyan jewellery: from head to toe

The book then continues with ten chapters devoted to jewellery itself. From head jewellery to waistcoat buttons to belts, anklets and slippers, in these pages you will find an abundance of jewellery – and its stories. Each piece of jewellery is presented with its vernacular name, there are poetry and song references throughout, and here again, everything is discussed in its historic timeframe. For many names, their linguistic origin is also given, which helps a lot in understanding what these names mean and why specifically they are chosen for a particular object.

These chapters are so rich in their descriptions that I don’t even know where to begin. Let me just say that when you read it all, you will get so much more than just jewellery. There are customs and practices, sayings and Qur’an citations, beliefs and glimpses into everyday life. And the photos! The entire book is lavishly illustrated, with images of private collections that have not been published before, but also with photos of how jewellery is actually worn.

As if that was not enough, the final chapter presents jewellery customs related to engagement and marriage in the city of Tripoli. Illustrated with vintage photos of actual wedding ceremonies, this essay brings us customs and habits that have since disappeared, and as such, this forms yet another important documentation of jewellery in its living, breathing context.

Libyan jewellery research: just in time

That sense of disappearing traditions is present throughout the book. In the epilogue, Hala shares the difficult road towards the publication of this book. For one, archives are not always accessible: in 2011, the political situation changed drastically, resulting in difficult times for those living and working in Libya. Another part of the challenges was the unescapable fact that the last generation of both wearers and silversmiths is disappearing rapidly. Who still remembers songs, customs, memories from before the Second World War? And even more relevant: who is willing to actually share these?

This is a challenge we see everywhere around the globe, and this book illustrates how important it is to incorporate this disappearing knowledge before there is no one left to ask. One of the things I really value is how this book pays it forward to future researchers by including an long list of Tripolitan silver- and goldsmiths in the appendix: we may not yet know when exactly they practised their craft, or what their makers’ mark looks like, but at least, this provides us with a starting point in preserving their names and their memory.

Glossary of jewellery terms

There is even more to this book, I’m not done yet. For me, one of the highlights is the glossary of jewellery terms in Arabic at the end of the book. For those of us who do not master Arabic, these four pages with terminology for everything from earrings to anklets are a major asset. You remember that e-book with jewellery search terms in 7 languages I created to help you expand your online search results? This glossary is a big help with the Arabic terms – do note that it is Libyan Arabic, so regionally spoken, but it is very insightful nonetheless.

So far, you’ll have noticed that I’m gushing. Is there no comment to be made at all…? Very few, if I’m being honest.

If I could ask for anything more, it would be a map of Libya and its neighbouring countries to help visualise where, for example, Djerba and Siwa are relative to Tripoli. As an archaeologist, I would have liked to see more diachronic backup for the explanation of some forms of symbolism: up until now, no one has convincingly shown that some forms of pre-Islamic symbolism, like the triangle for Tanit or the cross-in-circle pendant, have indeed been present as such in jewellery continuously. I lean towards the thought that this is more a case of revival than survival, but that is me. And well, ok, final comment, the green font for quotes is at times difficult to read.

But that’s it – the book design is beautiful, the weight of the paper has a sumptuous feel to it, and it’s a good thing that this is a hardback edition: I’m going to be leafing through it quite often.

For those that would want to compare this to Schenone Alberini’s book: that is gorgeous, too, no shade! But Jewelry and Adornment of Libya goes beyond, is more detailed and specific. I found that reading Jewelry and Adornment of Libya helped me place Schenone Alberini’s book in more context, and increased my understanding of Libyan jewellery significantly.

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a treasure of a book

The author writes that creating an exhaustive catalogue has not been her intention: the book gravitates around Tripoli (but does include many other places in the jewellery chapters), there is always more research to be done, and she hopes that researchers will build upon this work. I hope so, too! And with Jewelry and Adornment of Libya, the standard is set high.

Because with this book, you will get far more than a catalogue with Libyan jewellery. You will get a valuable record of the world in which this jewellery existed: its social, cultural, historical and economic context. This is one of the best recent books on traditional jewellery I have read, also because of its clear referencing – and as you know, I have read quite a few. So, whether you are from Libya yourself, a collector, curator or scholar working with traditional jewellery: go on and treat yourself to this book before it ends up out of print!

More about Jewellery and Adornment of Libya

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya By Hala Ghellali, 2024. 180 pages, full colour, English.

Published by BLKVLD Uitgevers Publishers.

Available with the publisher: see here how to order

I received the book as review copy.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

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].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: 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 jewellery, informal ritual and collections. 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. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Joyeria Amazig/Amazigh Jewelry

Joyeria Amazig/Amazigh Jewelry

by | Cultures & People, Reviews

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 8th century, and would control it until the 15th 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.

The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

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, 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.

MODA Moroccan Fashion Statements

MODA Moroccan Fashion Statements

by | Museums & Exhibitions

Fashion and design from morocco

MODA: Moroccan Fashion Statements

Published October 10, 2024

Every now and then I come across an exhibition that really leaves me inspired, so imagine my joy when I visited the huge exhibition on Moroccan fashion in Utrecht: MODA – Moroccan fashion statements. Not just because I may have thought ‘I would totally love to wear this’ a little too often, but because this was just immersed with meaning expressed in material form. As usual, click on any of the images below to enlarge them!

MODA: not just any fashion exhibition

Before I take you through a few of my personal highlights, a few general observations. This is an incredibly varied exhibition, in which you will find high couture and street art, luxurious materials and stray finds, innovative and familiar shapes. As the curatorial team (Ninke Bloemberg, curator and iniator of this exhibition, and Zineb Seghrouchni of DAR Cultural Agency) pointed out, this exhibition is not based on books or other forms of debate on what fashion is.

This selection is rooted in people, in everyday life, in today’s culture. It does not aim to be an overview of everything Morocco has to offer in terms of fashion (because you’d need a venue even larger than this), but a celebration of today’s up-and-coming designers alongside fashion icons. It’s like a snapshot of what inspires Moroccan designers today, and a glimpse into the history of fashion. It also illustrates how there is no such thing as monolithic ‘Moroccan’ fashion – the diversity of styles and influences is wide.

Moroccan fashion: today’s world

The first creation I saw, serves as a perfect example. Two designs by Maison Sara Chraïbi: one a wide cloak, the other a flapper-style dress, both from her 2024 Spring-Summer collection. Both carry an image of view into a mosque, whose arches beautifully blend with the lines of the design.

It is not any mosque, however: this is the 12th century Tinmal Mosque, in the High Atlas mountain range. During the devastating earthquake of 2023, it was substantially damaged. Here, its arches are embellished with sparkling gold beads. I imagined how sewing these on, one by one, is almost an act of restoring and protecting, and how wearing it fuses a person and their heritage together. It both brings inner life to the architecture, and embodies a promise to the future.

There is such strength and resilience, but also hope and joy in these first two pieces, that I totally get why these are the show-starters.

Contemporary issues, vintage to ancient design

The design immediately next to it caught my eye, too: a hooded cloak, called silham, covered in embroidered eyes, by Maison ARTC. The cloak itself is vintage, the embroidery has been added. The poem that goes with it, speaks volumes:

I see the change,
The love,
The anger,
The culture,
The hope,
The lack of justice,
The art,
The pain,
The people,
The community,
The world,
Myself,
Don’t forget to witness.

I found the use of eyes in this context extremely powerful: not only do they represent seeing and witnessing, but they also shield the wearer – the power of the eye in deflecting evil is ancient, and the use of sparkling sequins adds to that averting evil. The colour of this cloak, that of henna, adds to that protective and blessing capacity. Seeing and shielding in one garment: it’s this layered meaning that I found to be present throughout the exhibition.

MODA: artists, artisans and everyday life

The exhibition breathes cultural roots and almost effortlessly connects these with new designs and forms. Like the opera cloak of Dior’s 2020 Cruise Collection. Made of wool, dyed with henna, it clearly echoed the traditional henna cloth of southern Morocco. That relation between artists and artisans is also explored in the exhibition. There is a stunning dress where the loom is part of its design by Said Mahrouf, and the same exhibition room shows videos of artisans at work. Here, you’ll also find a wonderful selection of antique Moroccan jewellery on loan from the National Jewellery Museum in Rabat.

What absolutely made my head spin was the attention to hairstyles. Ilham Mestour, a celebrated hairstylist, created several hair designs based on the traditional hairdos of Amazigh women. One of them looked like it was created with actual scented paste, so I asked Zineb Seghrouchni of DAR Cultural Agency, one of the curators, about this piece in particular.

She told me that this was made with ghasoul, and that it smelled wonderful when they took it out of its container to install in the room – I can imagine! Including hair in an exhibition on fashion makes total sense: it is through hairstyles that tribal identities are expressed, but also how a form of private space and time is created. Creating these elaborate hairstyles is much more than just a form of outward appearance: you could say it is the end result of valuable time spent together, stories shared and knowledge transmitted. And that very much belongs in an exhibition on fashion.

MODA: an multi-faceted, rich exhibition

There is much more in this exhibition: from family photos to playful designs, from personal inspiration to global shows. And while I focus, due to the nature of my work I guess, on the more traditional elements that informed the designs, either implicitly or explicitly, that only is just one element of the creations on show. You will see opinions on how we treat our planet, mass-production and pollution, fast consumerism and prejudice.

There is also continuous attention for fashion in art, from street photography to photos enhanced with embroidery (which reminded me a lot of the Imaginarium-project in its treatment of printed matter), video art, a contemplative space to immerse oneself in publications and to meet with other visitors, and a myriad of details that require more than 1 visit – at least, for me!

It is the first time that such a large exhibition on Moroccan fashion has been organised in The Netherlands, and I hope this will be the start of many more: I highly recommend to visit if you have the chance!

MODA. Moroccan Fashion Statements in Centraal Museum Utrecht, Oct 3rd 2024 – March 2, 2025.

Co-curated by Ninke Bloemberg of Centraal Museum and Zineb Seghrouchni of DAR Cultural Agency

I was invited to the press preview and received a copy of the catalogue as a PR-invite.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

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].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: 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 jewellery, informal ritual and collections. 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. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

What does a jewellery historian do?

What does a jewellery historian do?

by | General jewellery topics

Jewellery research

What does a jewellery historian do…?

Published on August 23, 2024

When people learn I’m a jewellery historian, their first response is often ‘I had no idea that was a thing!’, usually followed by ‘What does a jewellery historian do…?’ In this two-part blog, I’m using the questions I asked about my work to zoom on what it is jewellery historians do, and of course, how I go about it myself. So here is Part 1!

What is jewellery history?

Being a jewellery historian is not a clearly defined field, and that offers plenty possibilities for individual researchers to give it their own spin. Our central theme is, unsurprisingly, jewellery, but that is a theme you can observe from many angles. Jewellery history is a very wide field.

Starting with scope, most jewellery historians focus on either one type or category of jewellery, on a specific timeframe or geographical region, or both. It’s completely impossible to know everything and anything on all jewellery ever created by humans, so limiting one’s scope occurs almost naturally.

Just one example: I have a friend who is extremely knowledgeable about all things jet throughout time: her starting point is the material itself, and from there she traces technical, historical, cultural and economic aspects of jet jewellery. [1] We met at the Society of Jewellery Historians in London, where we both were presenting a talk: yes, we have a society and it’s not even secret! [2]

There are jewellery historians who are extremely focused on technological aspects, but who could not tell you the first thing about its cultural meaning. There are jewellery historians who are intrigued by the aesthetic and iconographic evolving of jewellery as adornment, jewellery historians who study the social meaning of jewellery, and even forensic jewellery historians, who help give a voice to the dead by looking at their jewellery.

The study of jewellery in the widest sense is incredibly varied, and that is what makes it into such a fascinating field, I think.

How did I become a jewellery historian?

There is not really a curriculum to become a jewellery historian in the field of North African and Southwest Asian adornment. For me, this is a self-built field, that took me decades of finding my own path and pursuing my own research interests. And I would not have it any other way, too: I love and appreciate the freedom to go exploring what works and does not work for me, and dive deeper into those aspects that I really enjoy.

So, it’s not something I consciously set out to achieve, with a clear plan and a solid goal in mind: for me, it was more of a natural path that I followed, let by my interests, which eventually led to the realisation I might have become a jewellery historian – and then I went with that.

And what if you wanted to become one? Other avenues to approach include following education at the GIA, pursue specialisation within an art history or design curriculum, or within applied sciences…there are endless possibilities to developing yourself into a jewellery historian.

And where do jewellery historians find a job?

Good question! I also get asked a lot how I ‘got this job’: more on that below, so keep reading! Where may jewellery historians end up? Of course, there are museums with jewellery collections, where jewellery historians work as curators. In academia, you may find them as lecturers in design or history departments, although with most universities, there is not really a curriculum in wider jewellery studies itself. Auction houses also often employ jewellery historians to identify and appraise jewellery, and there is always the possibility of starting your own business as a jewellery dealer or consultant!

Jewellery history: how do I go about my work?

How do I fit in all this? How did I land my job? I have a few central themes that are pivotal to me and which guide my work. You might think of these as my mission, or maybe my main values. This is not necessarily how other jewellery historians interpret their work, this is how I think of mine.

First, I have a clear scope. I focus on adornment in the many cultures in North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological jewellery from this region and from Europe. There is much more out there, and although I have built up quite a large mental reference, I need to reach out to fellow researchers every once in a while, too. Which is always great, because then I get to learn something new…!

Central to my work are these themes:

1) For me, jewellery is a historic source. It has so much to tell, about the world of women, climate change, religion, history, geopolitics, identity…⁠So I’m not the type of historian who focuses on art historian or iconographic details, but more of a historian who places jewellery in its wider context as material culture. That could also be the archaeologist in me, of course, but I can’t see jewellery as simply embellishments only. That would be selling its amazing capacities of storytelling short.

2) Jewellery does not exist in a vacuum. It belongs within a particular context: studying jewellery means understanding this cultural and historic context as well. To me, that is absolutely essential.

You could imagine this as ever widening circles. Starting with jewellery and the body, there is of course looking at directly related fields of study, such as dress and body aesthetic, but also taking research and theory into shaping personal identity into account, along with things like gender studies. Widening our view a little further, there is the field of economy and trade to observe, ranging from household economy to shifting geopolitical landscapes. Beyond that, there is the intangible: how does jewellery relate to informal ritual, but also to things like expressions or sayings, songs, and poetry?

3) Jewellery is heritage. It is a living part of the society that created it. To me, this is crucial, particularly when thinking about its future. Where is the jewellery, currently residing with private collectors, going to end up? For me, engaging with, and more importantly listening to the communities that created and wore these items of jewellery is of major importance.

4) Personal adornment is not simply an ‘object’: in many cultures it forms part of a person, helps them grow and is believed to contribute to their safety and wellbeing. Thinking of jewellery as being alive somehow offers different approaches to understanding these better, instead of only looking at them as a commodity that you can buy or sell.

How did I get this job as a jewellery historian?

Well, I built it myself. I think this may be one of the things I’m most proud of: that I can actually build a business out of something I believe to important and something I love doing – a business that allows me to keep on working in and adding to this field.

It makes me feel incredibly grateful to realise there are so many people who do not just buy jewellery, but are also genuinely interested in their cultural background. The e-courses I developed for example work so well they helped me fund my (self-funded, because independent researcher) PhD research in the past, and now they continue to support my next research projects. On top of that, I get to do commissioned writing in really exciting projects and to present talks on jewellery, all while helping other appreciate their collections of jewellery even more. It’s honestly the best job ever.

But what do I do all day, exactly? More on that in Part 2 of this blog!

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References

[1] Sarah Caldwell-Steele is a researcher and jetworker who knows jet in and out! Follow her work and research here.

[2] The Society of Jewellery Historians is very much worth joining! Fascinating lectures, an illustrated periodical and always something new to learn.

The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

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].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: 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 jewellery, informal ritual and collections. 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. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.