Czech glass pendants with Arabic script

Czech glass pendants with Arabic script

by | Magic & Amulets

Western glass for the muslim world

Glass amulets with Arabic script

Updates August 22, 2024

Looking at a very specific type of amulet in this blog post: the pressed glass plaquettes inscribed with what looks like Arabic calligraphy. Are those texts even real? And how old are these?

Glass amulets with Arabic text: their shape and origin

Let’s look at their shape first. This is similar to much older pendants that were popular in for example Iran and India. In the gallery above, you’ll see an example from Iran which dates to the 18th century. It carries writing on both sides. The other example is a jade pendant from India, also densely inscribed, which even older: it dates to the 17th century.

Plaquettes of similar shape, dating to the late 1800’s, are in the collection of the British Museum, and all seem to point to the Shi’ite realm in their texts. [1] So this shape is one that was familiar to many people, notably (but not exclusively!) Shia muslims.

Glass pendants with Arabic text: Western production

The glass amulets with what looks like Arabic script, as you see above, are much newer. They have been produced widely in the Western world, with the aim of selling these to the Islamic world. Like in so many other cases, these companies created objects that were already known and popular, but offered them in larger quantities than ever before: mass production processes flooded the markets and, very often, upended local economies.

One of the companies that created these was Sachse & Co., who specialised in glass objects for trade around the world. They created not just beads and pendants for the Islamic world, but also, for example, imitations of teeth and bone for the trade with Oceania – and much more.

In the late 1800s, when these glass pendants were produced, Jablonec, the town where the company was located, was still part of Austria and known as Gablonz. [2] The light blue, translucent pendant that I’m holding in the photo above carries the text Czechoslovakia – thus establishing their date of production at least after 1918 and before 1938. Nowadays, this is known as the Czech Republic.

Glass pendants with Arabic text: where and how were they used?

Glass amulets with Arabic text were used in a variety of ways. One of its uses that I really love, is mentioned by Barbara Black Koltuv. She describes how clear glass amulets of this type, which she purchased in Jerusalem, were attached to Bayer aspirin bottles: surely, aspirins would work if encouraged by the name of God! [3] I have reached out the Bayer company archive to enquire if this practice was known to them. It was not, so I believe that these were attached to the bottles in the Middle East itself by entrepreneurial sellers.

Another one of these amulets was strung on cord much like jewellery from Rajasthan in India, and worn as a necklace. You’ll see it in the gallery below: compare the stringing to that of the antique jade pendant from India above. In fact, a few of the examples in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford have labels attached specifying where they were traded to, like Singapore [4].

But their use was not limited to the eastern Mediterranean and further east, such as Iran, India, Singapore or Indonesia. One such pendant was part of an amulet obtained in Algeria in 1906. Interestingly, this was part of a set consisting of one coral bead, two cowrie shells, one green glass bead and a black glass bead decorated with two bands, painted in gold. [5]

Glass pendants with Arabic calligraphy: what does it say?

This is where it gets more complicated. Because not all of these amulets actually carry legible text, but some of them absolutely do! And whether or not they do is confusing, to museum curators and speakers of Arabic alike.

See the two examples above (click to enlarge the images): the blue amulet reads Hasbi Allah, meaning ‘God Suffices’, or ‘God is enough for me’. Try this with your online translation app, and it will most likely come back with a legible result. Now the pendant next to it is the same, but is labelled with ‘bogus inscription’. This one, too, reads ‘God Suffices’, but the first letter is drawn slightly different: there is more of a downward line. That also goes for the third pendant, where the first letter looks like a single diagonal line.

For the dark blue pendant with elaborate calligraphy as shown above in the first gallery, I reached out to the community and wow, what an amazing response! Hatem Arafa, who is a calligraphy artist and designer based in Turkey, and Youmna Elsabry, an Egyptian jewellery designer,  explained to me what it says: ‘What God willed [has occurred], there is no power except in God’, a reading conformed by many others. [6]

Glass pendants with text: how old are these?

Going over the examples in museums and those available in the trade today, it seems these glass plaquettes of a form originally associated with Shi’ite pendants were created up until the Interbellum. Incredibly important here is the acquisition date of objects, as that shows you when these things became available on the market, when they were at the peak of their availability, and when they ceased to be offered.

A quick overview shows that the glass amulets with the most elaborate inscriptions (such as the dark blue example above) have been collected at the beginning of the 19th century, and those with simpler forms (like the one I am holding above) seem to have been produced up until the 1930s. They do not seem to appear later – of course, the popular beads known as ‘hajj beads’ continued to be produced, but these are of a very different shape.

This blog will be continued with an article on Czech glass hajj beads and their use!

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References

[1] Porter, V. 2011. Arabic and Persian Seals and Amulets in the British Museum, p. 154.

[2] As researched here by Pitt Rivers Museum.

[3] Black Koltuv, B. 2005. Amulets, Talismans and Magical Jewelry. A Way to the Unseen, Ever-Present, Almighty God. Nicholas-Hays, Berwick, p. 135.

[4] Accession number 1900.27.17. See it here.

[5] Accession number 1985.50.1050. See it here.

[6] See the comments on this Instagram post, where I asked the community for their insights and several people responded.

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:

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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.

Khalili eye beads: Palestinian glass beads from Hebron

Khalili eye beads: Palestinian glass beads from Hebron

by | Magic & Amulets

Glass eye beads from Hebron

Khalili eye beads: Palestinian glass beads from Hebron

Updated October 1, 2025

Eye beads are among the most recognisable amulets in the Middle East, but Palestine has its own distinctive variation: the Khalili beads of Hebron (al-Khalil). Produced in the city’s glass workshops during the 19th and early 29th century, these beads were made in many sizes, often with local names like “rooster’s eye” or “camel’s eye.” They were so popular that they were sold far and wide.

Today, Khalili beads survive in museum collections and family heirlooms, offering insight into Palestinian glasswork, jewellery traditions, and protective beliefs. In this blog, part of my series on amulets in jewellery, we’ll take a closer look at how these unique beads were made, used, and understood.

The origin of Khalili eye beads in Hebron (al-Khalil)

The Arabic name of Hebron is al-Khalil. This is how the town was known to its Arab-speaking inhabitants. That’s an important observation to make, because the name of these beads is derived from the place where they were made. These beads are called khalili: from al-Khalil.

A photo in National Geographic Magazine of April 1934 pictures a glass workshop in Hebron, where strands of such eye beads dangle from wooden racks. [1] This image is shown below, click to enlarge: I have this volume in my library, and added a dash of blue to guide your eye to the beads – do you spot the glass vessels on the tray in front of them?

How to recognise Palestinian Khalili glass eye beads

What do Khalili eye beads look like? They are flat beads of a circular shape. In the centre, you’ll have a white glass disc with a black dot of glass in its centre. Around that, concentric rings of glass were added. Garcia Probert describes in them in detail in her book on the Tawfik Canaan collection: the outer circle could be executed in blue, green or black; the second one would be yellow or orange. [2]

They work along the same lines as other eye beads: see this blog post for a quick introduction on the cultural context of eye beads and how they are supposed to work.

Sizes and local names of Khalili eye beads

These eye beads from Hebron were produced in several sizes: you could say they existed in small, medium and large varieties. And these sizes each had their own name.  The small ones are called ‘rooster’s eye’ or ‘ayn al-dik. The medium-sized ones are called ‘ayn al-qa’ud: dromedary eye. And the big ones are named after camel eyes, ‘ayn al-gamal. [3] Beads without a black dot for a pupil, so just consisting of a white centre with coloured circles around that, are called ‘ayn amya. [4]

How would you decide which one to pick? Garcia Probert suggests that the size of the bead may be related to the severity of the symptoms of someone in need of an eye amulet: big issues, big beads. [5]. And while I totally see how that could work, I think the choice for a particular size could also be inspired by what you would be using it in, and maybe your budget would also play a role here.

Assuming that smaller beads cost less than big ones, maybe a small bead could be all someone could afford. And then there is how you would be wearing it. An inconspicuous small bead attached to a dress would still be effective against the evil eye, and a larger bead threaded on a necklace would also double as adornment. So, how were they used…?

Khalili beads in museum collections

A significant obstacle to understanding these beads is that we know them mostly in collected context. The beads we find in museum collections seem to have been purchased directly from the sellers of such beads. And that is not just in Palestine: these beads were very popular and were exported to, for example, Istanbul and Venice.

The collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford holds Khalili eye beads that have been purchased in Hebron itself, in Jerusalem, but also in Istanbul and Italy. What I noticed about these, is that they are usually strung together as 4 or 5 beads or so. You can’t wear them that way, it looks as if they come straight from a bead seller.

Only in a few cases do you see a complete strand of them, labeled as ‘necklace’ – but is it? The first strand shown above is labeled as ‘necklace’ in the database of the British Museum, but with a length of 19,5 centimetres they’re on the short side for necklaces. Larger strands exist as well, such as the other one shown above, which measures 41 centimetres. As you see on the image above of the bead seller, he has indeed various lengths on offer.

Were Khalili beads worn in jewellery?

What evidence can we find of these beads being used? I went through a stack of resources to see if there is anything showing these beads being used in jewellery: collections of jewellery from Southwest Asia, and old photographs.

I found that, unlike the saba ‘uyun beads, Khalili beads do not seem to have been worked into jewellery and dress all that much: you will not find them set in silver, in for example a pendant or ring, or worked into necklaces, whereas the saba ‘uyun or Seven Eyes beads feature heavily in jewellery. There are plenty of jewels made of blue beads, but these particular beads are not part of those.

What is more, going over lots of old photographs, I saw no one wearing bracelets or necklaces made of Khalili eye beads, while beaded jewellery in general is abundantly available – apparently, strung together as we find them in museums was not the mainstream way of wearing these things.

Yet, these beads were produced in the thousands….they have must have been used somehow!

Khalili eye beads as amulets against the Evil Eye

And then I found them in use! The British Museum has two amulets in its collection that feature a Khalili eye bead as part of their design: in fact, these beads sit in the centre of the amulet. In that respect, the little note with two of these beads I photographed in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford (in the gallery above, click to enlarge) is also interesting: this labels the beads as ‘amulets’. So instead of complete ‘necklaces’ that help fight the evil eye, these beads seem to have been produced as individual eye-catchers (pun intended, sorry).

Explore the meaning of beads against the Evil Eye in this main article

Unanswered questions about Palestinian eye beads

I wonder if the Palestinian eye beads as we see them in museums today could not rather be strands as they come from the seller, instead of finished jewels as they are often labeled now.

The eye beads are, to my current knowledge, not present in regular jewellery and not visibly worn as complete necklaces or bracelets. They do occur as parts of amulets, and so I can’t help but wonder if we might find these attached to dress or veils, amulets hung on children’s cribs, attached perhaps to bonnets of babies….instead of used in jewellery.

And that is interesting to me in itself: apparently, this type of bead is not something you’d make jewellery of.

I’ll be on the lookout for them: if you spot one, please drop me a line? I’m very interested to learn what you make of these: together, we always see more!

Frequently Asked Questions about Palestinian eye beads

What are Khalili eye beads?
Khalili eye beads are glass beads produced in Hebron (al-Khalil), Palestine. They were made with eye-like designs and believed to protect against the evil eye.

Why are Palestinian eye beads called Khalili beads?
They are named after their place of origin, Hebron, which is called al-Khalil in Arabic. The city was known for its glass workshops that specialised in bead production.

Did people wear Palestinian Khalili eye beads as jewellery?
Research has shown that they were generally not used in jewellery such as necklaces or bracelets. Instead, they may have been carried as amulets, hung in homes, or kept as protective objects.

Why do Khalili beads come in different sizes?
The beads ranged from small versions to very large ones, with local names such as “rooster’s eye” and “camel’s eye.” These variations likely reflected different symbolic uses or preferences.

Where can Palestinian Khalili eye beads be found today?
Production ceased in the 20th century. They survive in museum collections, including the British Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum, as well as in family heirlooms passed down through generations.

Palestinian Khalili glass eye beads: meaningful beads

Khalili eye beads show how Palestinian glassmakers contributed to the long tradition of amulets against the evil eye. Their varied shapes, sizes, and names reveal how deeply these beads were woven into everyday life, from workshop production to personal adornment. While not always worn in jewellery, they remain powerful reminders of how people in Palestine sought protection through the objects they carried and kept close.

This blog is part of my series on amulets in jewellery — alongside posts for example on triangular amulets, glass amulets, and clove necklaces. Together, these stories show how materials as different as glass, cloves, and silver were all drawn into the shared human desire for protection and meaning.

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References

[1] National Geographic Magazine, vol. LXV (1934), no. 4, p. 513

[2] Garcia Probert, M. 2021. Exploring the life of amulets in Palestine. PhD thesis, Leiden University, p. 80-81

[3] Garcia Probert, M. 2021. Exploring the life of amulets in Palestine. PhD thesis, Leiden University, p. 81

[4] Garcia Probert, M. 2021. Exploring the life of amulets in Palestine. PhD thesis, Leiden University, p. 81

[5] Garcia Probert, M. 2021. Exploring the life of amulets in Palestine. PhD thesis, Leiden University, p. 81

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.

Ancient jewellery: Palestine

Ancient jewellery: Palestine

by | Ancient jewellery, Cultures & People

levantine jewellery history

Ancient Palestinian jewellery

Updated March 9, 2025

What is the history of traditional jewellery in North Africa and the Middle East? Historical context and cultural heritage have left their traces in the traditional jewellery worn in countries as we know them today, and so this blog series takes us back to the distant past. In this blog, I will look at jewellery history in Palestine: the region of Historic Palestine and Greater Syria, which since 1948 includes Israel.  What is the history of Palestinian jewellery in very broad strokes?

Ancient trade and historic Palestine

Historic Palestine is situated on the shores of the Mediterranean. Here, trade routes coming over land from the Arab Peninsula and Central Asia connected with those coming from Egypt. The sea routes over the Mediterranean also included Palestinian ports. As in most of the eastern Mediterranean, influences from Western Asia met directly with southern European and northern African cultures, resulting in a pluriform world.

Tell el-Ajjul, near the modern city of Gaza, was one of the principal cities in the southern Levant as it was strategically located on the main route through Sinai into Egypt, near the Mediterranean coast as well as on an intersection with trade routes coming from Syria.

Bronze Age Palestine: gold jewellery and glass beads

Tell el-Ajjul for example was a place where gold jewellery was produced in the late Bronze Age. [1] Here, three hoards were found, which reflect these international relations in their variety of styles. Some of the jewellery items are clearly Egyptian, such as rings with scarabs. Others are based on more local Canaanite traditions, such as the triangular pendant with a goddess, of which parallels have been found in Syria as well as on the Uluburun shipwreck. Several earrings and a crescent pendant are reminiscent of jewellery still worn today.

Jewellery based on Egyptian examples, such as scarabs and other Egyptian amulets is found widely in Palestine from ca 1500 BCE onwards: this is the timeframe in which the pharaohs extended their empire into the Levant.

In Bisan, also known as Beit She’an, over 1,500 glass and faience beads were excavated within a temple site. [2] While the majority of the glass and faience beads were of Egyptian production methods and style, they were strung together with beads and ornaments that referred to Canaanite gods and goddesses.

Silver jewellery hoards in historic Palestine

Besides gold jewellery and glass beads, several hoards of silver have been found throughout Palestine as well. [3] These date from the 12th century BCE to the 6th century BCE and tell us a great deal about trade and contacts. The origin of the silver itself in these hoards has been analyzed, and this showed two notable facts. [4]

First, the silver was melted down and reworked several times. This is a custom that is widespread throughout Southwest Asia and North Africa, as precious metals were valuable and reused when needed.

Second, the origins of the silver found in these hoards are Anatolia, the Aegean and, perhaps more surprising, the western Mediterranean – the Iberian Peninsula, or Sardinia. This points to a trade contact from west to east and illustrates the wide reach of trade networks in the late Bronze and early Iron Age.

Glass jewellery production in al Khalil [Hebron] and the coastal regions

Palestine was a major region of glass production during the first millennium CE.[5] Here, glass finger rings, beads, pendants and bracelets were created. Pilgrim souvenirs made of glass catered to Christian worshippers [6].

Glass jewellery continued to be created during the Middle Ages, when for example the use of glass bracelets increased exponentially. Fragments of bracelets are regularly found at excavation sites, but are not often well understood. Their method of production, just like beads, did not change significantly for a long time. This makes them difficult to date: it is the excavation stratigraphy that provides a date for the bracelet fragments. [7]

One of the locations that was famous for its glass production until the last century was al Khalil, also known as Hebron. Here, the glass industry dates back at least two millennia. Glass beads have been produced here as well, at least since the Middle Ages, and a 1799 travel account mentions the coarse glass beads that were created in Hebron and traded to East Africa. Glass bracelets made in Palestine were considered an indispensable part of a bride’s dowry in 1920s southern Palestine.⁠ [8]

This blog will continue with the traditional silver jewellery of Palestine: Bethlehem.

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References

[1] McGovern, E. 1980. Ornamental and Amuletic Jewelry Pendants of Late Bronze Age Palestine. An Archaeological Study. PhD-thesis, University of Pennsylvania

[2] McGovern, E., S.J. Stuart & C.P. Swann. The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan: Glass and Faience Production and Importation in the Late New Kingdom, in: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1993-05-01, Vol.290 (290/291), p.1-27

[3] Taha, H., A. Pol & G. Van der Kooij 2006. A Hoard of Silver Coins at Qabatiya, Palestine. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Ramallah

[4] Wood, J., I. Montero-Ruiz & M. Martinón-Torres. From Iberia to the Southern Levant: the Movement of Silver Across the Mediterranean in the Early Iron Age, in: Journal of World Prehistory (2019) 32, p. 1-31

[5] Freestone, I. C. Glass Production in the First Millennium CE; A Compositional Perspective, in: Klimscha, F. et al (eds) 2021. From Artificial Stone to Translucent Mass-Product. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, 67, p. 245-246

[6] Schwarzer, H. & T. Rehren. Glass Finds From Pergamon. A Report on the Results of Recent Archaeologic and Archaeometric Research, in: Klimscha, F. et al (eds) 2021. From Artificial Stone to Translucent Mass-Product. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World, 67, p. 181

[7] See for a short excursion into glass bracelets from Sinai for example Shindo, Y. 2001. The classification and chronology of Islamic glass bracelets from al-Tur, Sinai, in: Senri Ethnological Studies vol. 55, pp. 73-100

[8] Weir, S. 1989. Palestinian Costume. The Trustees of the British Museum, London

This is an updated, adapted and expanded version of an earlier blog post I wrote for the Zay Initiative.

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.