The Ottoman-style kirdan in the Middle East

The Ottoman-style kirdan in the Middle East

by | Objects

Ottoman jewellery

The Ottoman-style kirdan necklace of the Middle East

Published July 24, 2025

The Ottoman Empire stretched over large parts of North Africa and Southwest Asia. This centuries-long colonisation resulted in jewellery forms that are found all over the region. In this blog, I’ll show you a particular piece that is found with variations throughout the Ottoman world: a choker-like necklace.

What is a kirdan necklace?

The kirdan necklace is a choker-style jewel that forms part of the Ottoman jewellery repertoire. The original ornament is of a type widely used in the 19th century. With regional variations, it was worn from Tunisia to Turkey as well as beyond, on Cyprus, in Greece, and in the Balkans. In the cities, wealthy urban ladies would wear theirs in gold; rural ladies would resort to gilt silver or simply silver, depending on the fashion and traditions of their region.

The ornament consists of a choker-like band of repoussé segments. These may be fastened on to a fabric band, which is tied around the neck or closed with a loop-and-knot, or strung together to form an interlinking band itself. Usually, from the choker multiple pendants are dangling, and it is in the variations and differences of these that we may see regional preferences.

Regional variations of the kirdan

This ornament is generally called kirdan, but goes by many names. Let’s look at some regional variations next!

A postcard from Tunisia, showing a woman in traditional dress and jewellery. She is wearing the chiriyya necklace and pennanular brooches.

The chiriyya in Tunisia and Libya

In North African jewellery traditions, notably in Tunisia and Libya, this ornament went by chiriyya (also spelled chairiyya). In Tunisia, they are worn notably in the southeast, from the town of Sfax onwards. [1] In Libya, they were mainly produced in Tripoli, by artisans who catered to the east coast of Tunisia as well as to Libyan towns and tribes as well. [2]

The choker had a yellow fabric backing, on which the individual segments were sewn. In the centre of the band a square ornament featured. From the choker, large pendants were suspended, and in the centre one or multiple crescent-shaped pendants, executed in filigree, fell onto the chest.

The chiriyya notably does not carry coins, and does not have a central element on the band itself, which sports only the repoussé segments.

Detail of the central part of an Egyptian kirdan on the Bedouin Silver website. This image is part of a research article on the Ottoman-style kirdan in the Middle East.

The kirdan in Egypt: kirdan or kirdan hilali

In Egypt, the necklace is known as kirdan (also spelled kerdan) or kirdan hilali. Here, the segments flank a central element sewn on the band, usually a rectangular or square piece. In the centre, a central pendant falls on the chest: usually, a crescent or a set of tiered crescents, which is where it gets its name from: kirdan hilali means kirdan with crescents. They may be set with small turquoise beads, and the segments themselves are threaded through with red thread. Egypt also uses coins on the kirdan pendants.

The first photo shows a painting of a woman wearing such a necklace: more on her and her jewellery is in this blog!

Coastal Southwest Asia: the kirdan in the Levant

Palestine, western Jordan, Lebanon and western Syria all form part of the Bilad as-Sham, and share a cultural continuum that predates modern borders. Regional variations may extend beyond current borders, and in general trying to delineate exact attributions here is difficult. [3]

The kirdan was worn by both city-, village- and Bedouin women. Finer pieces in gold would be worn by urban women. Compared to North African variations, the coastal Southwest Asian variation generally have more and larger segments – and we also find innovative forms for women who could not afford as many silver or gold segments. They would add beads between the segments, so the kirdan required less precious metal. An example of such a simpler kirdan is shown below.

The kirdan of coastal Southwest Asia uses coins, and has a large variation in forms for the central element on the band.

The kirdan in Syria

For current-day Syria, Kalter notes that the individual segments for the band were purchased directly from silversmiths in Aleppo and Damascus by women themselves, who would then sew them on to a fabric band of their choosing. [4] Below the neck band, a row of coins or imitation coins jingles, and in the centre a single pendant such as crescent or inscribed amulet may hang. The central part of the band could also include a filigree square or rectangle, such as the example above shows, or a colourful red and blue ornament.

The kirdan in Jordan

In El-Kerak, the necklace was called kirdan migwiz. [5] In between the repoussé segments on the band, one or three filigree boxes were present in the central part of the band. Below the band, long silver elements with coins were suspended, and at the front, again one or three elaborate crescent pendants could hang.

The kirdan in Palestine

In Palestine, the necklace went by kirdan. They were made in several places, such as Nablus, but also in Irbid and el-Kerak but worn in Palestine [6] – again, the borders of today have little bearing on the past and the cultural reality is much more varied. In Nablus, the coin pendants are shorter than in El-Kerak. In the centre, an ornament of small tiered crescents fell on the chest. [7] In the Galilee, the coin pendants were similarly short, but the ornament itself also featured very long silver chains with multiple triangular pendants. In the centre of the ornament, the silver chains connected multiple crescent pendants. The style of the pendants is widespread in a larger region, including Syria.

The kirdan in Eastern Southwest Asia

Eastern Jordan and Syria, bordering on Iraq, were a bit more distant from the Ottoman world – the Ottoman sphere of influence mainly concentrated around the Mediterranean littoral. But we see cultural influences nonetheless, where Ottoman forms travelled on trade routes and gradually developed into styles of their own. In Kurdistan the choker was still worn, and the dangles often take the shape of fish – a form also encountered further on in Afghanistan.

Black and white photo of Egyptian dancer Taheyya Carioca with a a gold-coloured kirdan necklace on her hip.

Stage forms of the kirdan

One particular use of the kirdan is in an exaggerated version as stage jewellery. This was worn by dancers, mainly in Egypt. From the mid-19th century onwards, we see the kirdan in its usual size worn by dancers. The image above shows a phot of such a dancer (click to enlarge it). Around the turn of the century, the hilal pendants started to get larger, and from the 1950s onwards, entertainers would be wearing huge kirdans – of course, its sight really adds to the performance! [8]

A bracelet made of a repurposed kirdan necklace.

Repurposing of the kirdan

Because they fell out of fashion at some point, you may come across repurposed kirdans. They have often been divided up into bracelets.

The legacy of Ottoman kirdan chokers: forgotten heritage

The general Ottoman origin of this piece appears to be increasingly forgotten, and the reality of cultural interaction is hindered by thinking in today’s borders.

It is virtually impossible to distinguish between Tunisian and Libyan chiriyya, because the craftsmen that made them operated in both countries and pieces made in one country would be sold on a market in the other.

Likewise, trying to determine whether a piece is Syrian or Jordanian does not make much sense, as most likely, it was produced before either country as we know it today existed. Rather, it would be better to see if a place of production could be determined, in the full knowledge that from there, it may have been traded to at least 4 different countries as they exist today.

These pieces of jewellery remind us of a shared heritage. That is the historical jewellery value they continue to carry, and I do love how they took on a new life and new meanings on their own in the various parts of the Ottoman realm!

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References

[1] S. Gargouri-Sethom 1986. Le Bijou Traditionnel en Tunisie, p. 24, with examples.

[2] S. Gargouri-Sethom 1986. Le Bijou Traditionnel en Tunisie, p. 65; Ghellali, H. 2024. Jewellery and Adornment of Libya. Blikveld Uitgevers Publishers, Zandvoort

[3] J. Kalter, M. Pavaloi & M. Zerrnickel (eds) 1992. The Arts and Crafts of Syria, p. 81 already notes this.

[4] J. Kalter, M. Pavaloi & M. Zerrnickel (eds) 1992. The Arts and Crafts of Syria, p. 90, with examples.

[5] Pracht und Geheimnis, p. 388-389.

[6] J. Rahab 1989. Palestinian Costume, p. 121.

[7] Pracht und Geheimnis, p. 265.

[8] See this reel by Heather D. Ward on the kirdan in dance costumes

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.

Amazigh fibulas of North Africa

Amazigh fibulas of North Africa

by | Objects

Dress and jewellery

Amazigh fibulas of North Africa: jewellery and identity

Published June 24, 2025

It’s the most iconic piece of Amazigh jewellery in North Africa: the fibula or clothing fastener. From the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the oases of Libya, Amazigh fibulas are both functional and highly symbolic. What is more, they reflect regional identities, social structures, and even showcase connections between landscape, dress, and daily life. So, let’s have a look at these beautiful objects of adornment!

What are Amazigh fibulas? Use, names & regional styles

What are Amazigh fibulas used for? Fibulas basically serve as fasteners. You’ll find them used on a variety of garments, including outer wraps, shawls, and head coverings. Their forms vary by region and community, ranging from simple functional items to more elaborately worked items that may also carry symbolic meaning.

While you may find them repurposed into pendants, that is not how they were used originally: they really are pins!

That capacity of joining two things together is also why there is also a lot of informal ritual involving fibulas: see more about that here!

A silver and enamel fibula from the Tiznit region, Morocco
A selection of beautiful silver fibulas from the Maghreb, against a brilliant blue background.

What is the correct term for Amazigh fibulas?

The term fibula is obviously not local; it comes from Latin, where it referred broadly to a clasp or brooch used to fasten clothing. The use of garment pins dates back much earlier, though – examples made from metal and bone have been found in Bronze Age contexts across Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa.

The specific form most common in North Africa today, the rotating ring-and-pin mechanism, is associated with Roman innovations in clothing fasteners. These Roman-era brooches, widely distributed across the empire, introduced a functional design that remained in use and was adapted across different cultures over time.

While fibula is the standard term used in archaeological and art historical literature, the objects themselves are known by a range of local names in Amazigh communities. In Morocco, they are referred to as tizerzai or tisernas; in Algeria, terms such as adwir or tabzimt are used; and in Tunisia and Libya, they are commonly known as khlel. These vernacular terms reflect linguistic diversity, but also a regional variation in design and use.

Anatomy of a fibula: ring, pin, head, and variation

The most common type of fibula found in North Africa is based on the penannular brooch design. That is a ring that is incomplete or open at one point. A typical fibula consists of three main components:

1. The head: a terminal or decorative element at the end of the pin;

2. The ring: a circular or penannular ring;

3. The pin itself.

These elements are visible in the illustration above.

The large crescent-shaped fibulas of Libya and Tunisia follow the same design, but have no head: in these types, the ring is aggrandized to the point where it also becomes the eye-catcher.

How do you actually fasten a fibula…?

That’s a question I get asked a lot – so, here is how! To fasten a garment, the pin is pushed through two the layers of fabric that you’ll want to secure together. Push the pin through and bring it back to the front by perforating the fabrics again: by pushing it through and through, you’ll end up with the head of the pin and its lower half visible on the outside of your garment. Once in place, rotate the ring so that the pin lies across the gap in the ring. Push the pin through the gap, and twist the ring so the opening moves away from the pin itself. The tension between the ring and the fabric holds the pin securely, preventing it from slipping out. This design allows the fibula to act as both a clasp and a visual feature of the garment.

Here is a quick video showing you how it’s done! (click this link, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page)

Spendid silver fibula set from Algeria

Amazigh fibulas and dress

Obviously, fibulas are integrated with the textiles they secure. That in turn tells you a lot about those textiles just by looking at the pins themselves. Heavier, more substantial fibulas are used with robust fabrics, while lighter versions suggest finer or differently structured cloth.

The outer garments they secure are wraps: garments that envelop the body and shoulders. In winter, these would be heavy, wool wraps, and in summer they might be lighter fabrics.

You will notice that the heads of the fibulas are the heaviest part of the piece. That tells you where they would have been placed: not at the upper end, as you often see them in books, but at the lower end. The pins themselves stick out upwards, the head is pointed downwards. That is an important difference between theory and practice: fibulas are almost invariably depicted with their heads upwards and their pins downwards, but that is not how they would have been worn in real life!

How fibulas reflect Amazigh identity

Fibulas are part and parcel of the cultural practices of Amazigh communities. They are not simply adornments, but part of a broader visual and symbolic language that links body, clothing, architecture, and environment. And you know that is how I love to study jewellery: in its cultural context!

Because this allows us to understand how material culture communicates identity, memory, and place, rather than just admiring them as beautiful objects in a showcase.

This interconnectedness is of course very evident in recurring patterns and motifs. The same geometric forms found on fibulas frequently appear on carpets, blankets, pottery, and woodwork, suggesting a shared visual vocabulary across media.

But there is much more. Fibulas offer further insights into the world of their wearers, especially through the design of the pin head or terminal. This is the most visually prominent part of the fibula, and it often serves as a marker of regional or communal identity. Its shape and decoration vary by area, village, or group, allowing the piece to signal belonging and local affiliation.

These terminal forms often reference features from the wearer’s environment. They literally show us what that environment looked like, or what iys wearers considered important.

Some derive from animal forms, for example, the ram’s head motifs found in fibulas worn by the Ihahen of coastal Morocco, which may evoke associations with pastoral life. Others reflect built structures: domed tombs, arched doorways, or the stepped crenellations of kasbah walls.

These visual echoes suggest that fibulas do not only exist in relation to the body, or even just in relation to dress, but also participate in a wider cultural landscape – drawing meaning from the world around them and embedding that meaning into daily dress.

How fabulous is that, when your dress and jewellery fit into your surroundings…?

Amazigh fibulas today: living heritage & revival

Although Amazigh fibulas are no longer commonly worn in daily life, they still carry meaning. They are living heritage, and continue to be produced for ceremonial use, like local festivals, as well as for tourist markets. The fibula itself appears on beauty products, metalwork, and doors. It has grown into a symbol of Amazigh identity, notably in the diaspora – Amazigh fibulas of North Africa are still deeply meaningful and continue to evolve.

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References

Read more on fibulas and their cultural meaning here (not exhaustive, there is much more out there!):

Benfoughal, T. 1997. Bijoux et Bijoutiers de l’ Aurès. CNRS Editions, Paris

Cheylan, G. (ed.) 2007. Coutumes et décors de Tunisie. Ceres Éditions, Tunis

Eudel, P. 1906. Dictionnaire des Bijoux d’Afrique du Nord. Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Tripolitaine. Ernest Léroux, Paris

Gargouri-Sethom, S. & J. Pérez 2005. Les Bijoux de Tunisie. Dunes Editions, Tunis El Hafsia

Ghellali, H. 2024. Jewellery and Adornment of Libya. Blikveld Uitgevers Publishers, Zandvoort

Tamzali, W. 1984. Abzim. Parures et Bijoux des femmes d’Algérie. Dessain et Tolra, Entreprise algérienne de presse, Algers

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.

Textiles in Motion

Textiles in Motion

by | Ancient jewellery, Reviews

Dress research

Textiles in Motion

Published on August 08, 2024

When the study of ancient personal adornment meets lived experiences, magic happens! Textiles in Motion. Dress for Dance in the Ancient World is filled with interdisciplinary study in which ancient textiles come to life, statues swirl and the past jingles.

Textiles in Motion: the outline

This book is one of the results of a much larger project focusing on Etruscan dance through textile studies. Its contents extend wider than Etruria though, and present us with articles grouped in 6 distinct parts. First, you’ll find practical perspectives on dance and clothing, followed by Movement and Design, Embodiment and Communication, Cognition and Sensory Experience, Images and Metaphors, and even Modern Reception.

The contributions take us all over the ancient world: from the Mediterranean to China, from Bronze Age Europe to dancing Egyptologists. What will you find in this book? I’m not going to cover it all (because, spoiler alert) but will take you through my favourite chapters.

Textiles in Motion: dance in action

The first contribution, Practical perspectives on dance and clothing, is one I like best in this book. It’s written in a very approachable style, and weaves current-day dance experience together with the study of ancient textiles. I mean, even the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders make an appearance! The combination of folkloric dance experience and textile study makes this one of the most relatable and enjoyable chapters in the book. I found the notion of ‘showing off’ during dance particularly valuable –  it brings a new dynamic to the study of ancient textiles.

That is followed-up immediately by the next chapter, which introduces the design and construction of woollen skirts from eastern Central Asia. These were made some 2,000 years ago, and this chapter shows how they were actually designed to move. Through a combination of scientific research and technical recreation, these skirts were seen moving again the for the first time in millennia: a great example of how creating and wearing replicas of ancient textiles may help us understand their functionality.

That same combination of research with recreations is also what makes chapter 8 fascinating. Here, we move to Iron Age Europe, so even further back in time to around 800 – 400 BCE. Elite ladies from the Hallstatt culture in this timeframe wore jewellery that jingled, and what I found really interesting in this contribution is that the sound they produce has been analysed for its wavelength: individually and together, to create an idea of the ‘soundscape’ of these ladies.

I do wonder if that sound may have been altered slightly due to the corrosion on the jewels – I can’t quite make out if this analysis has been done with original jewels, replica jewels, or both. Either way, it’s super cool research – because it also involves reenactment of ancient dance poses by dancer dressed in replica garments and jewellery.

This way, both the movement of textile and the sounds produced could be studied. From there, further research is suggested into the ‘sound fields’ that these elite ladies emitted: could you, as an Iron Age person, judge from the specific jingle of their ornaments what status they have?

Textiles in Motion: dancing statues

Another field of study is that of 3D objects, like statues. The third chapter examines beautiful terracotta and bronze statues from ancient Greece, showing women who clearly are moving – but are they dancing, and if so, how? This chapter reads almost like a detective, piecing clues about the type of textile, how it was fastened, and which movements could may made – or not.

I also really enjoyed the elaborate discussion on Roman household gods, the lares. These gods were present in nearly every household, either in the form of little statuettes or painted on the wall. The author goes over pose, dress and personal appearance in great detail, and after reading this contribution I figured myself not much of an archaeologist – because I never realised that they, clearly, dance. How cool is that, to have dancing gods in your home? The author calls them ‘the festive guardians of the prosperity of the household’ (p.66), which is at, least to me, a new angle from which to observe these very familiar gods.

Textiles in Motion: the body, the senses, and dance

Multiple chapters discuss dance, personal appearance and the senses in Ancient Egypt. To share just one of these, the contribution on tattoos in ancient Egypt explores the relation between the body and elements of dress, the art of writing in Egypt and divine service. By considering tattoos as clothing, they gain an entirely new meaning in the context of dance: while dance is a performance that is temporal, tattoos are permanent.

Textiles in Motion – an inspiring book

This is a book about so much more than ‘just’ textiles and dance: it approaches dance in Antiquity across the full range of the senses. That is what makes it an absolutely inspiring book to me. Many of the chapters are illustrated with well-chosen images, and what I also picked up while reading this volume, was a sense of fun: in several contributions, the authors really seemed to have enjoyed what they were doing. That is usually the best way to embark on any type of research!

In combining sources such as texts, images and actual remains with sensory experiences, the past becomes a vivid place. Its interdisciplinary approach and openness to new avenues of exploration adds significantly to how we may understand movement and the senses in the past – an understanding that brings the people of that past much closer.

Whether you are into the history of dance, or an archaeologist or historian (or all of them), this is a volume I highly recommend!

More about Textiles in Motion

Textiles in Motion. Dress for Dance in the Ancient World.

Edited by Audrey Gouy (2023). 208 pages, full-colour, in English. Published by Oxbow Books: see here for more info and ordering.

I received the book as review copy.

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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].

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.

Jewellery and dress

Jewellery and dress

by | Opinion

Two fields of research

Jewellery and Dress

Published on July 26, 2024

Jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa is always part of a larger ensemble: it is linked closely to other elements of personal appearance such as clothing and body aesthetic. Often, it’s not even possible or even necessary to discern where jewellery ends and dress begins. I believe the two are too often presented as separate, while in many cases, they are created to fit together. And on the other hand, I also believe they are two distinct fields of research. So how does that work?

Jewellery and dress: a practical connection

Starting out with the most practical connection: that where jewellery is an integral part of dress. Many jewellery items are designed to fasten clothing or to keep textiles in place: they are as much part of one’s attire as zippers are. That is not limited to North Africa and Southwest Asia: many cultures around the world use an astounding amount of pins, hooks, clasps, and buttons. All of these can be beautifully decorated and some of them are really meant to catch our attention, like the huge toggle buttons worn on the island of Sardinia (Italy), for example.

And when that costume changes, its jewellery changes along with it or even disappears. Many jewellery items are no longer worn, because the costume they were an integral part of, has changed. That is a super logical domino-effect, but one that is not always acknowledged.

Large silver buttons on a sleeve in Sardinia, Italy
A stunning hair pin from Sri Lanka, called kondakoora.

For example, the large Amazigh clothing pins, known as tizerzai, tiseghnas or khlel, that kept the traditional dress of the Maghreb secure, are no longer used as everyday wear, as these garments themselves are no longer worn – at least not widely or on a daily basis. The pins are however proudly worn on festive occasions: although their practical use has dwindled, their life as carrier of cultural identity certainly has not.

Another example is hair jewellery. Hairstyling is an important part of body aesthetic and of social practices, and jewellery was used to keep these wonderful hairdos in place. Here as well, changes in hairstyle bring about changes in jewellery, another example of how closely connected jewellery and dress are.

One example, from yet another region of the world, is the beautiful kondakoora hairpin, which was worn in Sri Lanka. This lavish pin, set with coloured zircons, was placed on hair tightly rolled into a bun. After this custom disappeared, the pins were repurposed as brooches.

See more about hair ornaments in this article – they’re also worn in surprising other fashions!

Learn to read jewellery! Four colourful images of online courses.

Jewellery and dress: glittering fabric

Other pieces of jewellery have become so associated with the textiles they are worn on, that it is useless to try and tell where the jewellery ends and the clothing begins.

Take the richly ornamented face veils from Sinai and Palestine for example, which combine both textile and jewellery traditions. The tatreez embroidery that is so well known from clothing is also used on the face veil, which also carries beads, coins and small pieces such as silver amulets. You’ll find these beads, coins and amulets in turn also strung onto necklaces or sewn on garments themselves.

And the flowing headveil shown above, worn in the region of Mount Lebanon, forms a unit with its stunning tapering tantour of embossed and chiseled silver.

The elaborate face veils of the Rashayda are also both an element of dress and of jewellery. These are made of textile with silver woven in, resulting in very heavy and glinting veils. These are further embellished with silver pendants and amulets, that may equally be worn as jewellery.

This tradition of textiles embellished with silver or even gold thread is found in many garments from the region. It’s called badilah or badla, telli or talli, zari or zardozi. In the Western world, the glittery fabrics from Egypt are commonly known as ‘Assiut’ textiles. [1] They are named after the Egyptian town of Assyut where these were produced as export product during the Roaring Twenties.

Spendid Rashayda dress and silver jewellery.

Jewellery and dress: patterns and designs

The line between jewellery and dress fades even more in the case of embroidered embellishments.

The chest panel of Egyptian Siwa oasis wedding dresses is embroidered in the pattern of an amulet necklace, and even the use of colour in some embroidery styles is similar to colours used in jewellery. And the chest panel of a dress from Bahariya oasis, also in Egypt, is decorated with shining applications. An example is above: click on the image to enlarge it.

The same goes for patterns and shapes used: not only common designs such as triangles, but specific shapes such as fish, tortoises, stars and floral designs exist both in jewellery and in dress as well as in body aesthetics – and beyond, such as in basketry, weaving, but also in architectural decoration like the painted symbols on houses.

It is their meaning to the wearer that is central, instead of a division by material or object category. In some cultures, these designs and meanings overlap on both jewellery and dress, amplifying one another, and in others they differ per material carrier, but work together as an ensemble.

Jewellery and dress: together, they are more

That is what I find so fascinating about the potential of jewellery as a historic source: comparing it to other elements of a person’s personal appearance, and looking beyond that to the complete setting of that person in their context of their home, family, and culture, shares a lot about how people viewed themselves. But: that takes a village.

For my line of work, for example, I would never call myself a dress specialist. That is simply not my area of expertise. Studying jewellery, on the other hand, is not something one can add ‘on the side’. Both fields are vast in and of themselves. The most meaningful (and fun!) projects I have been involved in, are those where dress and jewellery specialists work together: it’s exciting to see this many-layered heritage highlighted from different angles!

So, just like jewellery and dress are more than just adornment when studied together, those studies themselves become more than their single fields when specialists work together. Who wants to team up…?

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References

[1] For some reason, this is often misspelled as Assuit. I have no idea why, as the town really is called Assiut, not Assuit. A case of endless copy-paste from a faulty source, I think!

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].

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.

THOBNA

THOBNA

by | Reviews

Palestinian dress research

THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora

Published Dec 22, 2023

What power does a dress hold, personally, but also historically? Wafa Ghnaim’s second book THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora investigates the memory of women through their dress. The result is a book that is personal and powerful, a study that sets a new standard for dress research.

The book 'Oman Adorned. A Portrait in Silver' shown with an Omani gold and silver necklace.

THOBNA: our dress

The title, THOBNA, means ‘our dress’. That reflects the viewpoint of this book: it is written by a Palestinian artist and scholar. In the introduction, Wafa shares her evolving points of view and understanding since Tatreez and Tea was published. THOBNA focuses on resistance embroidery in its historical and actual context.

Palestinian tatreez: flipping the perspective

THOBNA regards dress as living history (p. 37). The importance here is the realization that the woman creating and wearing the dress is central to its decoration and the story it shares. Tracing back embroidery only to its historic roots will only get you so far: it has always moved in sync with its people.

The first two chapters discuss that perspective. First, the dress is placed in the historical context of its people. In doing so, Wafa questions the usual method of describing dresses as ‘pre- or post 1948’, ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’. By following the wider context of the history of Palestinian people, she is able to identify a much more detailed development in dress styles, tied directly to circumstances and historical shifts.

Next, she traces the embroidery styles that have contributed to tatreez and dress as they exist today to deeper history in the wider geographical area of Southwest Asia. Discussing sources and the role that museums objects can play in this type of research, she then zooms in on dress styles from the 1850s onwards.

This is an incredibly important chapter to read. It blends together detailed experiences of reality after 1948 with artistic and resistance developments.

Dress research: ten portraits

Ten Palestinian dresses are analyzed in detail and serve as a sampler of how much more information may be learned from thorough dress study. In this chapter, Wafa identifies the maker of a dress as ‘Maker Once Known’ instead of ‘Unknown Artist’ – a beautiful way of flipping the perspective again, of acknowledging a maker whose name we no longer know, but whose story is preserved in her dress.

And there is so much to be decoded in these dresses. An example that resonated with me is a dress from the Gaza region (p. 71). It was altered several times, its changing fabrics indicating displacement and wear by different persons. Importantly here, Wafa includes the history of the dress during the time it was with its collector – these, too, may have altered dresses and as such obscuring parts of its Palestinian biography.

Tatreez: symbolism and colour by decade

As a result of her in-depth study, Wafa reflects on symbolism and shares her insights on how to date a thobe by its colour scheme. This latter chapter is very important for anyone studying dress, as it provides not only colour schemes per century and per region, but also explains how these came to be and how they remained associated with regional identities even after the 1948 depopulation of these regions.

The symbolism chapter in particular is another example of living history. For jewellery, I can’t stress enough that any given symbol may carry different meaning for different people in different timeframes. Symbolism is never static. For the meaning of patterns on a dress, THOBNA adds the crucial insight that these not only vary over time and geographically, but also per family. Every family has its own history, its own way of expressing, and that is reflected in the forms chosen. And that brings me to the value of knowledge and how we achieve it.

Knowledge: lived, learned, passed on

If I were to describe THOBNA in one word, it would be understanding of knowledge (okay, that’s three). Apart from knowledge of historical events, as outlined above, there is Elder knowledge or ancestral knowledge to incorporate in research. Tangible heritage is always accompanied by intangible heritage: stories, poems, songs, expressions and personal memories. But these are rarely included in research. even though they contribute a unique perspective on living heritage.

Knowledge comes, for cultural outsiders, also in the form of awareness. In the last three chapters, Wafa shares many detailed stitches, materials, how-to’s, patterns and their meaning with us, and guides us clearly and gently in how to respect these properly.

 

“May THOBNA provide an artistic means for you to study and learn about Palestinian resistance from our perspective”

THOBNA: integral dress research

Do not expect easy lists or clear-cut criteria in this book, although the thobe diagram, colour guides and patterns provided are very detailed. Rather, immerse yourself in the ever-evolving world of dress and its people. Studying THOBNA will allow you to develop a deeper understanding of the multifaceted world of Palestinian dress, as seen through the eyes of a Palestinian researcher and artist.

That is what makes this book stand out, too. It combines the perspectives of scholarly research, indigenous living heritage and the actual experience of the artist. It discusses dress from all these perspectives, and it does so in the past, present and future tense.

That is how it sets a new standard for dress research: there are so many details to take into account to properly reconstruct the narrative of the creators and wearers of dress that it needs all these perspectives, not just the art historical point of view.

If you are in any way involved in Palestinian dress, either as a curator or a collector, you will really want to read this book.

And now even more so, because THOBNA was published in the summer of 2023. On p. 91, we read:

‘THOBNA is a commitment to reclamation. Therefore, Chapter 9 focuses primarily on the patterns stitched during the First and Second Intifada, when Palestinian women used tatreez as an artistic expression worn on their bodies that held the world to account for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, reiterating their right of return and asserting their undeniable need for freedom.’

Since then, the truth in these words has become shockingly clear once again.

More information on THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora.

Title: THOBNA. Reclaiming Palestinian dresses in the diaspora. By Wafa Ghnaim, 2023. 189 pages, full colour, in English.

Published by The Tatreez Institute, Washington D.C.

Available with the author and on Amazon.

More on Wafa’s work can be found here on the Tatreez and Tea website.

I received the book as thank you for the crowdfunding, which I am proud to have supported.

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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].

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.