Decoding Habiba’s jewellery

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Cultures & People

Travelling with Alexine Tinne

Decoding Habiba’s jewellery

Published March 01, 2024

Dutch traveller and photographer Alexine Tinne did not travel on her own. She had gathered a large group of people around her, and many of these are known by name. One of her companion travellers was Habiba. And from her photos, we may learn more about her as a person.

Habiba: travelling with Alexine Tinne

Habiba was photographed as a traveling companion, both by Alexine herself and by photographers in towns they visited. The photo above (click to enlarge it) was made in Naples, for example. We know her name because it was added to her photos in some cases. She is in several photographs of Alexine’s group, and also features in Alexine’s letters back home.

Where she came from however, is never mentioned. Her jewellery may provide a clue, so let’s have a look at that!

Decoding jewellery: Habiba’s earrings

From a hand-coloured photograph in the municipal archives of The Hague (click to enlarge it), it would appear as if her jewellery was of gold. As all photographs in these days were black and white, it’s difficult to tell if this was actually the case.

Her earrings are of a very specific type. This type of earring was worn in the western oases of Egypt. Nowadays, they are notably associated with Bahariya Oasis. Their name is halaq saqawi, meaning ‘earrings that look like a whater-wheel’. [1] Fahkry suggests the inhabitants of the oases may have purchased them from the Fayyum, or even Cairo. [2]

Although these are most often in silver, they also existed in gold: according to Weissenberger, the difference between gold and silver earrings is that the dome of gold earrings would be executed in filigree. [3]

In Habiba’s time, these earrings were already described by Edward Lane. He does not attribute them to the western oases specifically, however: Lane observed daily life most often in and around Cairo. [4]

Such an earring in gold is shown in the gallery above. The tiny turquoise [5] in the centre of both earrings would keep the evil eye at a distance, as would the glittering of gold in the sunlight and the constant swaying of the dangles. The small discs of sheet gold catch and reflect the light: imagine how sparkling that must have looked on this lady, wearing such a pair!⁠

Decoding jewellery: Habiba’s amulet container

In another photo taken during the same session, Habiba is shown wearing an amulet container. You’ll find it above: click to enlarge it and see its details.

Lane describes this ornament as one of the things a wealthy lady would be wearing. He describes how these containers, called higab, were worn suspended from a silk string. The string would be worn over the left shoulder, so that the amulet container would hang to the right – exactly as Habiba is wearing it. [6]

The case itself, as he describes it, was made of embossed silver or gold. It’s difficult to see, but the amulet case in the image may indeed have been decorated with embossing. It features a series of dangles underneath: their jingling movement would help in keeping evil away.

Decoding jewellery: Habiba’s coin necklaces

But, there are also hints in these photos that although she may have been wealthy, she is not necessarily a woman of the elite. That is mostly visible from the way she wears her headscarf, and her other jewellery.

Habiba is shown wearing necklaces of coins. These are also visible on the photo shown together with the earrings above, which depicts an Egyptian fellaha or farmer around 1870.

And an even more striking parallel to Habiba’s jewellery is found in the photo of the woman above (click to enlarge it): the same earrings and coin necklaces. This is very much a posed photo: the smoking is a tell-tale sign. This photo was taken in the studios of Otto Schoefft. It is part of a series called Le Caire Pittoresque, and most of the photos in this series were taken in either the Cairo studio or the vicinity of Cairo. [7]

Habiba: a woman from the Cairo region?

Based on the way she is dressed, ties her headscarf and selects her other jewellery, I’m inclined to think Habiba is from the region around Cairo. As you see in the photo above, which shows a dress from Bahariya oasis, her dress is different. [8] She does not wear any of the other characteristic jewellery from the oases: and as we have seen, her earrings may have been popular in a far wider region than they are now usually attributed to.

What is noteworthy however, is that she mostly keeps wearing the same jewellery in all photos known of her: the same earrings and necklaces. Only the amulet container is rarely seen.

That overall continuity means that she has not had to sell them – apparently her position as servant in Alexine’s household had her basic needs covered. But on the other hand, there is no increase in jewellery to be observed, so there would not be much to save, either.

In the end, Habiba survived the Tuareg attack that killed Alexine. She inherited a small amount of money, but where she decided to live out her life is not known. I wonder if there are still descendants of hers…!

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References

[1] M. Weissenberger 1998, Le bijou des oasis égyptiennes, in: Bliss, F. 1998. Artisanat et artisanat d’art dans les oasis du désert occidental égyptien, Studien zur Kulturkunde 109, p. 311. Also Azza Fahmy 2007, Enchanted Jewelry of Egypt, p. 91 for an image.

[2] A. Fakhry 2003 (1974). Bahariyah and Farafra, AUC Press, p. 42.

[3] M. Weissenberger 1998, Le bijou des oasis égyptiennes, in: Bliss, F. 1998. Artisanat et artisanat d’art dans les oasis du désert occidental égyptien, Studien zur Kulturkunde 109, p. 311.

[4] E. Lane 1842, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, vol 2, p. 404-405.

[5] Lane describes them with a ruby; a red stone would have had a similar effect.

[6] E. Lane 1842, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, vol 2, p. 411.

[7] F. Thürlemann 2016. Das Haremsfenster. Zur fotografischen erorbering Agyptens im 19. Jahrhundert, p. 49-83.

[8] See Shahira Mehrez 2023, Costumes of Egypt vol. I.

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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.

Village life in southern Sudan

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Cultures & People

Early photography

Village life in Southern Sudan: Alexine Tinne’s photos

Published Feb 21, 2024

In February 2024, Leiden University Libraries announced the acquisition of 18 previously unknown photographs by Dutch traveller Alexine Tinne. The photos date from 1862, and show life in Gondokoro, a village in Southern Sudan that no longer exists. And: they capture jewellery, hairstyle and dress!

Alexine Tinne: traveller and photographer

Alexine Tinne was a member of the Dutch elite in the 19^th century. Her father had become rich through the exploitation of sugar plantations. When he died, she inherited a fortune, and decided to exchange her hometown of The Hague for a life of travel and photography.

Photography in the 19^th century was still a cumbersome activity. Instead of automatic presets, you actually had to know what you were doing in terms of exposure and lighting. That all had to be set manually, photo cameras were heavy and large, as were the tripods needed to keep them steady for the duration of the shot (no quick snaps in the 19^th century!).

And instead of a film (anyone remember the day where you had to insert a filmroll in your camera instead of a memory card…?), early cameras worked with glass plates. Besides bringing your own equipment, you also needed the chemicals and tools to develop the images, and understand how that process worked.

So imagine going on a photo journey in the 19^th century: loaded with glass plates, wooden tripods, heavy cameras, tins and buckets of chemicals and darkroom equipment. Alexine dragged all this and more to southern Sudan.

Southern Sudan: early photographs

Alexine set out to travel to the sources of the Nile. She left Cairo in 1861, with a series of river ships, a crew of enslaved staff, and her mother and aunt. The next year, she arrived in the village of Gondokoro: a destination that was known from her travel documentation, but of which no photographs survived. Until these photos were discovered!

These 18 photographs show scenes of village life. All of them are posed: taking a photograph was a time-consuming process, one of the reasons why early photography often shows buildings and landscapes rather than people.

The village itself consisted of both wooden buildings of poles and mudbrick covered walls, and structures of alternating rows of stone bricks and baked mudbrick. You see a glimpse of it in the photo above: click to enlarge it.

In a few photographs, details of adornment can be seen: let’s see what we can make of those!

Jewellery of southern Sudan: bracelets

The first photo above (click to enlarge it) shows two children engaged in hairdressing. The child on the left is picking something out of the child’s hair on the right. Both children wear beaded necklaces, and the child on the left also wears what looks like a single bracelet. But is it…?

The woman holding a basket on her head (in the gallery below, click to enlarge the photo) is wearing three of such bracelets on the arm planted in her side, and one on the arm holding the basket. I included a detail of that photo in the gallery above.

Looking at other photographs in which bracelets are worn, such as the other two children shown above, and more specifically at the shadows cast by the outer rim of the bracelets, I think we’re not looking at a single bracelet, but at a stack of bracelets of the type shown above. These are ivory bracelets from Congo (close to Gondokoro) and southern Sudan. Its name according to Griselda el Tayib is sin fil [1].

It is of course difficult to compare a 160-year old photo with bracelets existing today, but I believe this is the type of jewellery we’re looking at.

Dress and hairstyles of southern Sudan: the rahat skirt

The children in the photos are wearing the very familiar leather skirt known as rahat. An actual example is shown above. This skirt was worn by little girls [2] until they reached puberty: the collection also contains a photo of a young adult woman wearing such a skirt.

Such skirts also survive from archaeological excavations in Sudan and southern Egypt. I have seen fragments of leather skirts during my participation in the study season of the Ottoman leather of Qasr Ibrim, but they also date much further back to the medieval period. [3]

The difference in their hairstyles points to a difference in the stages of their life: the child with the braids sitting on the right is in a different social stage of life than the child with the little tufts on the left.

Adornment of southern Sudan: leather amulet container

The woman holding a basket on her head is also wearing a leather amulet container or higab, hanging from a long leather cord. These have a very long history, and are abundant in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

The photo shows beads and a cowrie shell strung onto the leather cord. The upper part of the leather container seems to be decorated with a pattern of horizontal lines, much like the image of a comparable container on this blog.

Alexine Tinne’s early photos of southern Sudan: a historic source

These 18 photographs are incredibly important. They show us what the village of Gondokoro looked like, and what its inhabitants wore in terms of dress and adornment. I honestly could not be more excited about this new acquisition!

See the press release about the discovery of the photos here.

The photos have been acquired by Leiden University Libraries with financial support of Vereniging Rembrandt, a Dutch cultural organisation supporting the acquisition, research and restauration of art in the public domain.

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References

[1] G. el Tayib 2017, Regional Folk Costumes of Sudan, p. 138.

[2] G. el Tayib 2017, Regional Folk Costumes of Sudan, p. 100.

[3] See this blog by Women’s Literacy Sudan and this blog by Textile Research Centre, Leiden for more on the rahat skirt.

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Early Photography Portraits

by dr. Sigrid van Roode | Opinion

an unreliable source

Early photography portraits of the Middle East

Updated Jan 11, 2024

Don’t you just love those old photos of women wearing jewellery? Many collectors search for these and use them to get an idea of how jewellery was worn. But there are some serious considerations to take into account with these photos: you can’t take them at face value.

Staged studio photographs

The thing with old portraits is that in almost all cases they have been staged. Early photographic equipment was heavy and cumbersome: you couldn’t snap a candid picture like we are used to nowadays, the subject had to stay really still.

Buildings and landscapes are better at that than people, so these form a large part of early photos.⁠ For people, photographers would have their own studio and their own props, and they could create photographs of people dressed in just about anything that they believed would sell.

And that is an important aspect of early photography: the point of view from which these photos were taken.

Early photography: creating the ‘Orient’

Early photography very often served to create an image of ‘the Orient’ to send back home. Of course, this new art was also used in documentation like for example of archaeological sites and monuments, but documenting more often than not switched to creating when contemporary life was photographed.

What was photographed had to fit into a specific framework: idyllic scenes in the countryside ‘like it had been in Biblical times’, and studio photography of men and women at their most ‘Oriental’. This included strangely misplaced clothing and sometimes complete nudity, as well as unnatural poses.⁠ Life as it actually happened was rarely photographed.⁠

Old photographs therefore are not neutral sources of information: we always need to be aware of the intent with and purpose for which they were taken. The photograph shown above was taken by Jean Besancenot in Morocco, and is more reliable than for example images from photo studios operating in the main cities.

Constructing the Orient: modern media

But is that misrepresentation a thing of the past? Sadly, no. In this digital age, photographs circulate faster and wider than ever before.

Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are picture-based entirely and a quick search will get you dozens of image results. The context that goes with these however often does not come along, and as a consequence misinformation and misrepresentations are repeated again and again. It’s why I started this blog, as I wrote about here.

With the availability of photography for virtually everyone, paired with the slow disappearance of traditional dress and adornment, we enter a new era of constructed images.

Again, mashups of dress and adornment are created, photographed and circulated widely with just one click of a mouse. The photo shown above is an example for such a mashup: the headdress and face veil are not worn together like this, as they belong to two different social groups.

How to observe early portrait photos from the Middle East

Here are three points to consider when looking at old photographs of women wearing jewellery.

First of all, don’t take them at face value immediately but have a close look at what you actually see. Is it a studio photograph? Is the photographed person (semi-) nude? Is the photo part of a series, recognizable by captions like ‘scènes & types’? These are all indicators for posed and constructed photography. Postcards in particular are notoriously posed and in some cases a far cry from reality.

A second point is to look for other work by the same photographer: there is a difference between the well-known photo studios in large towns, and photographers associated with for example archaeological or military expeditions.Who was the photographer? What else did he (it was almost always a he, see for a remarkable exception this blog) photograph?

Thirdly, see what information, if any, you can dig up about the photograph itself. Especially with photographs found online, see what information comes with it: not every ‘Bedouin bride’ or ‘Woman in traditional clothing’ is identified accurately. As mislabeled info is often copied many times over (see more about that here), this may take some searching, but using the search feature for comparable images it may in some cases be possible to find a source with more information.

Taking the time to form an opinion about the trustworthiness of a photograph as visual source will help you gain a better understanding of the jewellery and dress you’re researching.

Early portrait photos and jewellery: what we can learn

Is there anything we can learn with certainty from early portrait photographs, regarding jewellery? Well, yes: we can observe which jewellery items were in existence at the time of photographing.

Even if they are props and used randomly (you’d be surprised to see how many necklaces ended up as headdresses, just because it looks so exotic), logic dictates they were available when the picture was taken.

This provides us with a timeframe: ‘this type of jewel existed as early as…’, and to some extent an idea of clothing. These pieces of information can then be used again to contribute to the actual story of the photographed people as they really were, instead of how the photographer invented them to be.⁠

And that’s the story jewellery research aims to bring back to life!

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References

I have written this blog post from a perspective of photography as resource for jewellery studies and not as a discussion of early photography itself. This field is widely explored by scholars from a variety of angles. Here are a few starting points:

The essays in the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium are a very important contribution by contemporary artists and scholars to the interpretation of Orientalist postcards.

Tied in to the inventing and constructing of photographs is the power balance between the (foreign) photographer and the photographed. The Civil Contract of Photography by Ariella Azoulay explores these ethical aspects in depth. The video A Snapshot of Empire: the racist legacy of colonial postcards shows how these pre-staged photographs continue to influence our view today: watching these 8 minutes is highly recommended!

Local photography is discussed in Ritter and Scheiwiller (eds), The Indigenous Lens? Early Photography in the Near and Middle East (Berlin 2018), of which the introductory chapter can be read here.

A selection of sources for historical photographs of the Middle East can be found here and here.

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