Oriental woman with sineklik

Oriental woman with sineklik

by | Jewellery & Art

Jewellery and art history

Oriental beauty with sineklik

Published May 24, 2025

Jewellery in paintings — that’s something I always keep an eye on. It tells you not only about the fashion and the painter’s eye for detail, but also about how people at the time viewed dress and adornment. Oriental Woman with Sineklik, painted by Pinel de Grandchamp in 1846, is one such portrait that draws us in with both costume and ornament.

This blog is part of my series on Jewellery and Art, exploring how artists depicted jewellery and dress in portraits and Orientalist paintings. You can also read Portrait of A Syrian woman, Decoding Habiba’s jewellery, and more posts in this series as it grows.

Oriental beauty with sineklik by Pinel de Grandchamp

This article focuses on a single painting, Oriental Beauty with Sineklik (also known as Odalisque à l’éventail) by the French artist Louis-Emile Pinel de Grandchamp, and explores how the jewellery in the painting places the woman painted in her cultural context – and where things went wrong.

Pinel de Grandchamp and the Orientalist tradition

Louis-Emile Pinel de Grandchamp (1834–1894) was a French painter associated with the Orientalist tradition. He spent a significant part of his career in Egypt, where he produced numerous works – and unlike some of his colleagues his paintings were based on direct observation. He mostly painted scenes in Cairo, and these include recognizable architectural details that actually are from Cairo, not a made-up version of a random ‘Oriental’ city. When you see one of his paintings, you recognise the setting as Cairo immediately – at least, I did. [1]

Oriental Beauty with Sineklik is different in that it focuses on the individual sitter and her adornment. There are no details in the background like a building or a recognisable view that tell us where this lady is from, and the title is particularly unhelpful. So, in such portraits, it is the jewellery and dress that tell us where this lady is from!

Oriental beauty with sineklik: jewellery as key to identity

In this painting, a woman is seated against a dark red background, holding a sineklik (fly whisk) in her hand. Her gaze is directed away from the viewer, and she wears a loose white garment, a striped headwrap, and multiple items of jewellery. Although the title refers only to her as an ‘Oriental beauty,’ her adornment offers specific clues about her identity.

The eye-catcher is her gold necklace: composed of repoussé segments and disc pendants. The central pendant is larger, consisting of a crescent-shaped pendant with a disc below it, again framed with dangling discs. This necklace is of a type called kirdan. It is commonly associated with Ottoman jewellery, worn in Cairo during the 19th century. See a few examples of this type of adornment in the gallery above: click to enlarge the images.

Read more about the history of the Ottoman-style kirdan here

Her earrings match the necklace and echo designs from the 19th century, like for example depicted by Edward Lane [2]

Draped over her left wrist and hand is a strand of large yellow beads. They may be amber or glass, and they echo the look of a misbaha or tasbih, a strand of prayer beads. A similar strand of beads can be seen on the painting Oriental Woman Burning Incense, by Cesare dell’Acqua (1869, also in the gallery above: click to see its details).

Her headwrap, formed from a striped textile and loosely coiled around the head, aligns with styles worn by women in elite Cairene households.

So, that’s what we see: but what does all this mean?

Beyond the title: what ‘Oriental Beauty’ leaves unsaid

Despite the generic title, the woman in the painting is not without identity. Her adornments anchor her in a specific time and place; they firmly situate her in a late Ottoman Egyptian setting. The crescent-shaped necklace, with its repoussé craftsmanship and coin pendants, was typical of Egyptian adornment and is well represented in both photographic archives and surviving examples.

But this painting has its problems as well.

The anonymity of the sitter for example: she is not mentioned by name, and reduced to a very general title. In fact, we don’t even know if this is an actual portrait, or a model that served to create a generic view of that faraway region, ‘the Orient’.

This fits in with broader trends within Orientalist art: it produced very generalized images of “Eastern” subjects. In these works, jewellery and dress were frequently used as symbolic ‘shorthand’, you could say, flattening the layered meaning in jewellery and dress into a singular, romanticized visual language.

Take the strand of prayer beads, for example, dangling from her wrist. For starters, it misses its central bead, and is reduced to ornamentation: within its own cultural and religious context, this would not have been depicted as such.

Add to that the composition of the work: I don’t know if you noticed, and I apologise for drawing your eye to this, but everything seems to be centred around her cleavage. It’s literally the focal point of the painting, and the V-shaped lines of her garment, the handle of the fly whisk and even the perfect vertical line from her earrings through the central element of her necklace end up in her cleavage. I mean, jeez.

So, yes, the jewellery and dress allow us to add more context to this painting than just a random Oriental beauty – but the painting itself leaves viewers to interpret the scene based on partial information and oversimplifications.

Jewellery, dress & identity in Orientalist art

Pinel de Grandchamp’s Oriental Woman with Sineklik is not only an Orientalist portrait; it is also a visual puzzle. While the title centres on an accessory, it is the jewellery and dress that provide the key to interpretation. The kirdan necklace, Egyptian ornamentation, and Ottoman Cairo clothing place the sitter firmly in a cultural context that the label “Oriental beauty” glosses over.

So now that we know all this, what to do?

This painting reminds us how Orientalist art both reveals and conceals. It preserves details of dress and adornment that allow us to reconstruct cultural identity, while at the same time reducing women to symbols of an imagined East. By asking what jewellery tells us — and what the title leaves unsaid — we can approach these portraits with a more critical eye.

The thing is to be aware of that world beyond the artistic frame in which it is delivered to us. And this is where having insights in jewellery and dress can play an important role, too. Awareness of the importance and meaning attached to adornment helps resisting the anonymity imposed by the painting’s title and composition. There are more, and deeper stories to be told than just a woman holding a fly whisk and staring out of an invisible window.

That’s why I do what I do, in running this blog and creating courses to explore just that world, and I’m happy you’re here to join me on that journey!

Other blogs in the series on Jewellery & Art are here:

Decoding Habiba’s Jewellery

Portrait of a Syrian woman by Portaels

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More posts on jewellery, cultures and people? Browse them all here!

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References

[1] See for example this painting, that shows the Ghuriya complex on the main street of Cairo’s souq: it still looks like this today https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6154449

[2] Lane, E.W. 1842. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. The Definitive 1860 Edition. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo (2003).

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.

Ancient jewellery: Iraq

Ancient jewellery: Iraq

by | Ancient jewellery, Cultures & People

Jewellery history of Mesopotamia

Ancient jewellery from Iraq

Published March 9, 2025

When we talk about the beginnings of jewellery history, few places are as important as Iraq — ancient Mesopotamia. From the royal tombs of Ur, with their breathtaking hoards of gold, to the tiny glass beads produced in early workshops, the region offers a vivid picture of how people used jewellery to express power, belief, and identity.

These finds are not just beautiful ornaments. They reveal the skills of Mesopotamian craftsmen, the reach of early trade networks, and the ways jewellery was tied to life, death, and status. Looking at the jewellery of ancient Iraq means looking at some of the oldest traditions of adornment in the world — traditions that influenced cultures far beyond the Tigris and Euphrates.

This blog is part of my series on Ancient Jewellery, exploring how adornment shaped identity across the Middle East and Mediterranean. You can also read about jewellery from ancient Syria, ancient jewellery from Lebanon, and more to come.

Iraq’s early jewellery history: Mesopotamian gold, beads & trade

Iraq is home to the two rivers that provided the perfect circumstances for early civilization: the Tigris and the Euphrates. The ancient name ‘Mesopotamia’ refers to these two rivers, as it literally means ‘between rivers’.

The rivers provided not only fertile ground but also formed trade corridors with southern Anatolia as well as with the Indus Valley to the east. It is not surprising that these circumstances gave rise to some of the earliest cities and city-states.

In the north of Iraq, near current-day Mosul, Tepe Gawra was a site that has been inhabited from 5,000 BCE onwards until 1,500 BCE. It’s from this place that the earliest use of gold in Southwest Asia has been preserved: wire and beads form telling tales of both technological achievements and trade.

Tepe Gawra grew into one of the earliest industrial cities, bringing wealth to an upper layer of its inhabitants, and that shows in the burials of the late 4th millennium. Gold rosettes and beads, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and turquoise from Sinai all testify to the trade hub that Tepe Gawra was.

 

The gold of Ur & elite burials: jewellery significance in royal tombs

In the south of Iraq, the city of Ur was a major urban site in ancient Sumer. Its cemetery of thousands of burials, dating to around 2,500 BCE, is world famous. Only a few of these contained abundant riches, and thus were called ‘Royal Tombs’ by their excavator, Leonard Woolley.

Although some of the deceased were indeed of royal status, the majority were elite members, courtiers and attendants, buried together with their ruler.

The burials contained lavish jewellery sets in gold, carnelian and lapis lazuli, and it has been proposed that the jewellery items with which each individual was interred, were somehow linked to their status and position.

Certain jewellery items are only used for men, where others are mainly worn by women. A further differentiation may be seen between royal and priestly elite members. Jewellery here does not only communicate wealth, but also complex organizational structures.

Jewellery of Queen Puabi: power, ritual & female adornment

Probably the most well-known burial in Ur is that of Queen Puabi. She was buried with copious amounts of jewellery in gold, lapis lazuli and carnelian.

As the roof of her tomb had collapsed in the past, it has been difficult to reconstruct the jumble of beads and other ornaments into the objects we are familiar with today. Her spectacular jewellery is also significant for more than just status and power. Recent research by Kim Benzel has shown that it may very well also have been charged with ritual or magic power.

In Puabi’s jewellery, references to fertility are abundant. Vegetation and floral motifs abound, and what is more, the use of gold seems to be focusing on the upper part of the body: as if in death, she was a radiant goddess in an aura of vegetation.

Assyrian jewellery & ornament in northern Mesopotamia

In the north of Iraq, the kingdom of Assyria flourished. Here, cities like Nineveh and Nimrud bloomed. In Nimrud, ancient Qalhu, in particular, four rich tombs have been excavated at the end of the 20th century by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities.

Two queens were found buried together, Queen Yaba’, the wife of Tiglath-pileser III, and Queen Ataliya, who was married to Sargon II. From the excavation it became clear that the queens were dressed in fabrics that were embellished with countless gold ornaments shaped like stars, rosettes, wheels, discs, and triangles, along with jewellery like diadems, bracelets, anklets, rings and earrings.

The level of workmanship achieved is superb: the woven diadem of Queen Yaba’ is technically very difficult to create. The use of eye agates is one of the ancient precursors of eye beads as they are still used today.

Glass beads and trade: ancient Mesopotamia’s bead production 

Glass beads excavated outside of Mesopotamia, sometimes at a considerable distance, tells us more about the wide reach of the trade network.

The most faraway example is a tomb from the 5th to 3rd century BCE in the city of Huludao in China, where glass eye beads have been excavated that were produced in Mesopotamia in the Late Bronze Age, around 1,100 BCE. Clearly these beads have traveled quite a distance in the centuries after their creation, but also in the time of the Bronze Age itself trade routes reached far.

Glass beads excavated in Europe were found to have been produced in Mesopotamia.

Medieval jewellery and continuing traditions in Iraq

During the Middle Ages, the area that is now Iraq continued to flourish as a trade hub. Baghdad was the capital of the Islamic world for a considerable time, and it is during the Middle Ages that we see forms and styles take shape that continue to be used in jewellery. The seal pendant shown here dates from ca 600 to 1200, and inscribed stones like these are still much sought after today.

These international connections are still visible in the traditional jewellery of Iraq. The silver jewellery of the tribes inhabiting the thick marshes in the south of Iraq has its own distinct style, while in the north of Iraq, the ethnic minority known as the Assyrians still have their own jewellery styles. In the cities, Ottoman jewellery styles have found their way into the spectrum of adornment, such as the characteristic belt buckles. All in all, Iraq is home to some of the most stunning and significant pieces of human adornment and history.

Ancient jewellery of Iraq: a testimony to human achievements

The story of ancient jewellery in Iraq spans millennia, from the gold rosettes of Ur to the bead production at Tepe Gawra, and from Assyrian diadems to medieval workshops in Baghdad. Across this long history, jewellery was never just decoration: it was a marker of rank, a tool of ritual, and a product of far-reaching trade.

For us today, these pieces provide a bridge to the people of ancient Mesopotamia. They remind us that even in the earliest civilisations, jewellery was already bound up with identity, belief, and cultural meaning. Whether a necklace buried with a queen or a simple bead traded across empires, each object tells us that adornment has always been central to human life.

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More posts on ancient jewellery, cultures and people? Browse them all here!

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References

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

Alarashi, H. 2016. Butterfly Beads in the Neolithic Near East: Evolution, Technology and Socio-cultural Implications, in: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26:3, pp. 493-512

Benzel, K. 2013. Puabi’s adornment for the afterlife: materials and technology of jewelry at Ur in Mesopotamia. PhD-thesis, Columbia University

Gansell, A. R. 2007. Identity and Adornment in the Third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian ‘Royal Cemetery’ at Ur, in: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 17:1, pp. 29-46

Gansell, A.R., S.L. James & S Dillon 2012. Women in ancient Mesopotamia, in: A Companion to Women in the Ancient World, pp. 11-24

Hussein, M.M. 2016. Nimrud. The Queens’ Tombs. Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, Baghdad/Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Acces this publication here

Maxwell-Hysop, K.R. 1960. The Ur Jewellery. A Re-Assessment in the Light of Some Recent Discoveries, in: Iraq Vol. 22, pp. 105-15

Jenkins, M. & M. Keene 1982. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Miller, N. F. 2000. Plant Forms in Jewellery from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, in: Iraq Vol. 62, pp. 149-155

Peasnall, B. & M.S. Rothmann. One of Iraq’s Earliest Towns. Excavating Tepe Gawra in the archives of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, in Expedition Vol. 45 no 3, pp. 34-39 Access this publication here

Varberg, J. et al. 2016. Mesopotamian glass from Late Bronze Age Egypt, Romania, Germany and Denmark, in: Journal of Archaeological Science 74, pp. 184-194

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.

Portrait of a Syrian Woman: jewellery, dress, and identity

Portrait of a Syrian Woman: jewellery, dress, and identity

by | Jewellery & Art

Jewellery and art history

Portrait of a Syrian Woman: jewellery, dress, and identity

Published Feb 11, 2025

Jewellery and Art History — one of the things that intrigues me is how jewellery and dress are depicted in portraits, genre paintings, and historical scenes. Particularly when the artist is from outside the region, the way adornment is shown can tell us a lot about regional costume, ornamentation, and identity. So, I’m starting a new blog series on Jewellery & Art to explore how adornment in art history across North Africa and Southwest Asia reveals meaning beyond beauty. Kicking it off with this painting: Portrait of a Syrian Woman by Jean-François Portaels!

This blog is part of my series on Jewellery and Art, in which I take a closer look to jewellery and dress in art. You can also read about Oriental Beauty with Sineklik, and other works to come!

Jewellery & Art: how portraits show regional dress and ornament

Western painters, particularly from the 18th and 19th centuries, frequently depicted jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia in their works. You’ll find adornment appearing in portraits, genre paintings, and historical scenes, offering viewers an impression of distant cultures. While some artists approached their subjects with a keen eye for the craftsmanship and details of the jewellery, others incorporated these elements to serve specific artistic or narrative purposes – and in doing so, veered off the course of reality. That’s what makes studying these depictions interesting.

Portaels’ Portrait of a Syrian Woman: overview and context

One example that illustrates both the strengths and limitations of such representations is Jean-François Portaels’ Portrait of a Syrian Woman, painted around 1865. The painter is regarded as the founder of the Belgian Orientalist school, and he actually did travel to the region: he visited Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.

Portrait of a Syrian Woman: the jewellery

So, what do we see? The woman depicted wears a necklace of silver coins and a cross pendant—both elements historically worn in Syria – but also elsewhere in the region.

But is it really a necklace? If you look closer tot he painting, it seems to be a combination of two types of jewellery: the rigid torc worn in Syria, and the Palestinian iznāq. I believe that what appears to be a necklace might actually be the iznāq: a silver chain hooked into the headdress, weighing it down below the chin. See a few details in the gallery below (click to enlarge the images).

The misunderstanding of this function reveals how even detailed paintings could still get it wrong: if you don’t quite get this type of adorment, it’s very hard to render it correctly.

Bethlehem shatweh with coral beads, gold and silver coins.
Group of Palestinian women in Bethlehem, wearing silver jewellery glinting in the sun.
Two solid silver chin-chains called iznaq from Palestine.

Portrait of a Syrian Woman: headdress and regional costume in the Jerusalem region

The woman’s dress closely resembles the thobe malak as worn in the Jerusalem area, and her head covering appears to include the headdress known as the shatweh: its contours can be seen below the flowing veil, just as in historic photographs. The headdress in the painting is fastened under her chin with a strap.

Regional identity: Palestine, Syria and ‘Greater Syria’ in 19th century art

These details indicate that the lady may be from Palestine, rather than Syria, and more precisely from the Jerusalem region. The cross indicates she was a Christian woman – other than this pendant, there are no other signs of religion. Religion comes in second, after regional or local affiliation: in most cases, it is impossible to tell what faith someone belonged to, only what they called home.

But when she is Palestinian, why is the painting called ‘Portrait of a Syrian Woman’? For this, we need to look at the historical context of the time. When this painting was made, the entire region, including present-day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Israel and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, was collectively referred to as Greater Syria.

What jewellery and dress tell us about identity in portraits

In Portrait of a Syrian Woman, it is the dress and jewellery of the woman depicted that continue to speak for her, even when borders, place names, and centuries change.

Even though the necklace of silver coins and cross pendant represent a misinterpreted iznaq, her headdress and dress tell us about place, identity, – and how cultural ornament was rendered by artists. Portraits like this are more than visuals; when done right, they’re coded expressions of region and social belonging.

In the Jewellery & Art series, I hope to explore more of these visual stories: how costume, jewellery, and dress intersect to reveal who people were — in art, history, and identity.

You’ll find the next blog in the series Jewellery & Art here:

Decoding Habiba’s Jewellery

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More posts on jewellery, cultures and people? Browse them all here!

Join the Jewellery List and receive new articles, jewellery news and more in your inbox!

The only course on ancient jewellery that centers on the Middle East and North Africa tells you much more: Have a look here!

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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.

Ancient jewellery: Syria

Ancient jewellery: Syria

by | Cultures & People

Jewellery history of the Levant

Ancient jewellery from Syria

Published Feb 2, 2025

When we think about the history of jewellery, Syria offers some of the richest finds in the region. From the earliest shell beads along the Euphrates to the magnificent adornment on Palmyra’s funerary busts, jewellery has been a constant presence in Syrian history. It tells us about daily life, trade connections, and cultural identity across thousands of years.

In this post, I’ll explore the role of ancient Syrian jewellery in different eras: from Bronze Age tombs at Ebla and Ugarit, to Roman-era sites such as Dura Europos, and into the splendour of medieval goldsmithing in Raqqa.

This blog is part of my Ancient Jewellery series, exploring how adornment shaped identity across the Middle East and Mediterranean. You can also read about ancient jewellery from Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and more to come!

Early jewellery history of Syria: shell beads & adornment

The geographical area which is now Syria is, historically, part of the larger Syro-Palestinian cultural sphere. Like in many other regions, shell beads are among the oldest forms of personal adornment in Syria.

In southwestern Syria, shell beads from three archaeological sites in the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range tell us more about the importance of personal adornment at the end of the Paleolithic, some 11,000 years ago.

A rock shelter at Baaz, and two caves at Kozah and Ain Dabbour yielded large quantities of shell beads. These were not simply made of leftover shells after food production: analysis has shown the majority of the shells came from the Mediterranean, some 90 kilometres and two mountain ranges away!

Bronze Age jewellery in Syria: Ebla and the Euphrates

Syria is home to some of the earliest farming communities on the banks of the river al-Furat, or Euphrates. Here, settlements developed into true city-states, and by 3,500 BCE current Tell Mardikh was the seat of one of these internationally orientated kingdoms: Ebla. The kingdom traded with Cyprus, Egypt, Afghanistan and Sumer in current-day Iraq, which is clearly visible from the archives excavated in the city.

What we also learn from the archives is the value of precious commodities such as personal adornment. Daggers, their belts and the connecting suspension hooks seem to have been worn as status symbol and as carrier of identity, a practice reminiscent of the Omani and Yemeni jambiya or khanjar. Ornamental discs of silver or gold, inlaid with precious stones, were as common as bracelets, which are described as having eagle-headed terminals.

What is even more fascinating is the glimpse of a redistribution economy the archives offer: jewellery is regularly melted down in exchange for other pieces. One example mentions the melting of three silver bracelets to obtain three decorative discs in low-grade gold.

Beads and jewellery of Bronze Age Syria: Ugarit and Qatna

The royal tombs of Ebla contained gold jewellery, which was also found in the city of Ugarit in modern-day Ras Shamra. Here, goldsmiths employed filigree and granulation, as can be seen on the pair of crescent earrings shown above: a type that is still current in Syria today. In northern Syria, burials such as found at Tell Sabi Abyad show a wide variety in jewellery: bracelets and anklets in bronze, gold, or even iron, hairpins and combs, necklaces, pendants and beads of stone, glass, faience, shell and gold.

The length and width of the trade networks is demonstrated by the royal tomb at Qatna, current-day Tell Mishrife, where amber beads were identified as coming from the Baltic area. Interestingly, this tomb also contained various beads and pendants of a blue-greenish material set in gold: instead of turquoise, this is variscite, which apparently was valued for its close resemblance to turquoise.

Gold earrings excavated in Syria, dating to 200 - 300 CE

Dura Europos and Syrian jewellery in the Roman world

In the utmost east of Syria, on the banks of the Euphrates, a city was built by the Seleucids around 300 BCE. It was conquered by the Romans in the 2nd century CE, and finally destoyed by the Sassanids in the 3rd century. Called Dura Europos, this was a cosmopolitan city with temples for Graeco-Roman, Mesopotamian and Persian gods as well as a church and a synagogue.

Throughout the city, jewellery was found during excavations: lost pieces or treasures stashed away in hoards. Besides these actual pieces, the city also has numerous wall paintings showing how jewellery and dress were worn. Here, we find Roman fibulae or clothing pins indicating a strong military presence, and key-shaped rings. These were used as actual keys and are therefore very telling items: they clearly signal the wearer owned valuable items.

Silver rings with intaglios in semiprecious stones or glass show the variety of the Graeco-Roman pantheon, and bracelets with terminals in the shape of snake-heads are reminiscent of bracelets as they are still worn today.

Palmyra jewellery: funerary busts and cultural identity

In the Roman city of Palmyra, elite ladies had themselves portrayed on funerary busts. These show a mixture of Roman, Persian and Indian jewellery styles and clothing and served to show the considerable wealth of the inhabitants of the city.

These busts were originally painted in bright colours, which gives us an idea of the splendor worn. They also form an interesting way of expressing identity. While in other parts of the Roman Empire women would not be shown wearing large quantities of jewellery to underscore their feminine virtues, in Palmyra the opposite was true: the more jewellery, the more honourable the lady wearing it. Here, we see how local forms of expression are used to convey similar concepts.

Medieval Syrian goldsmithing: Raqqa and the Fatimid period

During the Middle Ages, Raqqa was an important center for goldsmithing. Many jewellery pieces from the Fatimid dynasty (909-1171) have been created either in Egypt or Syria: the difference is indistinguishable. The jewellery of this period is exceptionally finely made, using wire filigree and granulation. Not much of it survived, as it was mostly melted down in later periods. The openwork filigree of the Fatimids continued to be produced under the Ottomans, albeit less delicate and in completely different shapes, and so continued into the traditional jewellery of our time.

Ancient jewellery of Syria: heritage and preservation

The story of ancient jewellery in Syria spans millennia. Shell beads from the Euphrates show how even the simplest ornaments carried meaning. Bronze Age sites such as Ebla and Ugarit reveal jewellery as a marker of wealth and ritual. Palmyra’s busts preserve a vivid record of local jewellery styles, while finds from Dura Europos place Syria in the wider Roman world. In the medieval period, Raqqa’s workshops highlight Syria’s role as a centre of fine goldsmithing.

Taken together, these finds show that jewellery in Syria was never just about adornment. It was a language of identity, status, and belief — and one that continues to connect us to the people of the past. By tracing Syria’s jewellery from beads to busts and beyond, we see how deeply woven adornment is into the story of human culture.

The many years of devastating war in Syria have not only destroyed the age-old suqs, but also severely impacted older heritage. Museums have been looted and are slowly beginning to be rebuilt where possible. Jewellery forms part of the millennia old heritage of a country where civilization began: keeping this heritage alive has never more been important and urgent than it is now.

More jewellery from Syria? You might also like Silversmiths of Deir ez-Zor

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References

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

Abe, Y. et al. 2019. Use of variscite as a gemstone in the Late Bronze Age Royal Tomb at Qatna, Syria, in: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 27, 1-6

Düring, B., E. Visser & P. Akkermans 2015. Skeletons in the fortress: the Late Bronze Age burials of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, in: Levant 47:1, 30-50

Fortin, M. (ed) 1999. Syria. Land of Civilizations. Les Éditions de l’Homme

Kaizer, T. (ed) 2016. Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos. Cambridge University Press.

Kalter, J. 1992. The Arts and Crafts of Syria, Edition Hansjörg Mayer, Stuttgart/London

Kandel, A.W. et al 2017. Epipaleolithic shell beads from Damascus Province, Syria, in: Quaternary International 464, 126-140

Klaver, S. 2019. Women in Roman Syria. The cases of Dura-Europos, Palmyra and Seleucia on the Euphrates. PhD-thesis, University of Amsterdam

Maiocchi, M. 2010. Decorative parts and precious artifacts at Ebla, in: Journal of Cuneiform Studies 62, 1-24

Mukherjee, A. et al. 2008. The Qatna lion: scientific confirmation of Baltic amber in Late Bronze Age Syria, in: Antiquity 82, pp. 49-59

Prévalet, R. 2009. Preliminary observation on three Late Bronze Age gold items from Ras Shamra (Ugarit), in: ArcheoSciences 33. Access this publication here.

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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.

Ancient jewellery: Lebanon

Ancient jewellery: Lebanon

by | Cultures & People

Jewellery history of the Levant

Ancient jewellery from Lebanon

Published Dec 27, 2023

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 Lebanon in very broad strokes: what is the history of Lebanese jewellery?

Lebanon: early jewellery history

The geographical area which is now Lebanon is, historically, part of the larger Syro-Palestinian cultural sphere. That is reflected in its ancient jewellery: it shows continuity and connections. One of the earliest occurrences of adornment and the production of adornment in Western Asia is found in Lebanon.

A few kilometers from Beirut lies Ksar ‘Akil, a rock shelter where people lived some 40,000 years ago. These people created beads of shell, and not just any shells: they were very particular about their choices. They liked to mix very white and colourful shells. And it doesn’t end there: they selected shells specifically to create ornaments. So, it’s not creativity with left-over shells from food production, as you might think, but a very selective process to gather exactly those shells they wanted. [1]

These Lebanese shell beads are among the oldest ornaments in the world, and are instrumental in understanding the development of cognitive capacities of humans: it is by decorating ourselves that we show awareness of how others see us.

Lebanon in the Bronze Age: beads of history

It is beads again that tell us about long distance trade in the early Bronze Age, around 3000 – 2500 BCE. In Tell Fadous-Kfarabida, in the north of Lebanon, a small urban center flourished. Here, inscribed cylindrical beads were found. These are seals, that were used to sign administrative documents: rolling the bead over wet clay would leave the impression of the image on the seal. They tell us a lot about organization and administration. A gold ring with a lapis lazuli cylinder seal, shown above, was possibly found in the city of Byblos: I am showing it to you next to a cylinder seal, possibly from Iraq, to give you an idea of such a bead.

The materials used to make beads are as informative about long distance trade. Seven unassuming steatite beads reveal a trade network that reached as far as the Indus Valley. On the site, no evidence for bead production was found, making it likely that these beads were traded. And here again, their colours seems to have been significant: it’s the type of steatite that turns white when burned that seems to have been preferred. [2]

Bronze beads from Lebanon

In the Middle Bronze Age, cast bronze beads have been found on various sites in Lebanon. Here again, we see how Lebanon formed part of a wider world in the Levant: the Lebanese beads have been created using the same metallurgical practices such as alloy composition and techniques used as elsewhere in Southwest Asia.

What metallurgical analyses of the Lebanese beads also reveal is the practice of reuse: lead has been added to the mix in some ornaments. Did the people who made these beads have difficulty accessing tin and copper, or could they simply not afford it? [3]

Byblos: a Mediterranean trade hub

The city of Byblos was a major trading port on the Mediterranean and received ships from all over the sea, as well as trade routes that came from further inland. An example is the trading ship that sank off the coast of Turkey: among its cargo were thousands of beads and gold jewellery that came from the southern Levant. This ship would also have traded in the port of Byblos.

In the city of Byblos, a gold disc was found which shows us an example of cultural exchange around 4,000 years ago. The workmanship is Mesopotamian in technique, but not in execution. It is the disc shown in the gallery above: click to enlarge the photos.

Perhaps this is the work of a local craftsman, who learned to work with granulation in the style of current-day Iraq. The disc is unique and no other parallels for the use of granulation in a similar item exist. While Byblos has revealed quite a lot of Egyptian or Egyptianizing jewellery, this piece is neither.

Byblos: Egyptian influences

How did Egyptian jewellery end up in Byblos? That is because the region that is now Lebanon was located within the Egyptian sphere of influence for much of the Bronze and early Iron Age. The Egyptian court would send gifts to other kings, and as the collection in the National Museum in Beirut shows, these were of very high quality. The kings of Byblos were considered important partners.

Jewellery in the Egyptian style became very popular. It was also preferred by the non-elite, as the spread of relatively low-quality scarabs made of amethyst shows: these have been found throughout the southern Levant. [4]

In the gallery above (click to enlarge the photos), you will see a few examples of this cultural exhange: amethyst scarabs in gold rings and bracelets, and the continuation of the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus-symbol in jewellery from Lebanon.

From Lebanon across the Mediterranean: Phoenician jewellery

Trade in the Mediterranean world was dominated by the Phoenicians during the first millennium. They operated from Lebanon. From their main ports in Beirut, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre they established colonies throughout North Africa and Europe. Carthage, in current-day Tunisia, is one of their most famous cities which would become an empire of itself.

Because of the origins of the Phoenicians in current-day Lebanon, Phoenician jewellery is heavily influenced by that of ancient Egypt, too: you will find lots of scarabs and other Egyptian motifs in Phoenician jewellery. These are combined with other cultural influences, like that of the Aegean world.

Very specific for Phoenician jewellery are the famous face-beads: these have been found widely throughout the Mediterranean, for example also on Sardinia. A few examples are in the image above: Phoenician jewellery requires its own article, which I will add soon!

Roman jewellery in Lebanon

When Lebanon was part of the Roman Empire, here, too, Roman jewellery became popular. Funerary stelae show images of men and women dressed in Roman fashion, and excavations of Roman cemeteries brought Roman jewellery to light. [5]

And that was not just for ordinary people: the gods, too, were believed to be adorned with jewellery. The arm of a statue found in Beirut was shown with no less than thirteen (!) bracelets on its upper arm. This was a statue of the god Jupiter Heliopolitanus, who, as supreme deity, needed opulent jewellery to reflect his status. The impression shown above shows the splendour with which divinities were imagined. [6]

Ancient jewellery of Lebanon: a cultural treasure

The wide variety in ancient jewellery from Lebanon testifies to millennia of cultural exhange, innovation and trade. If you’d like to see more of this in person, I highly recommend a visit to the National Museum in Beirut: there is much more to admire than one blog article can accommodate!

This blog will continue with the traditional jewellery of Lebanon.

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

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References

[1] Kuhn, S. et al. 2001. Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant, in: PNAS 2001, vol 98 (13), pp. 7641-7646.

[2] Damick, A. & M. Woodworth 2015. Steatite beads from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida: A case study in early Bronze Age technology in Northern Coastal Lebanon, in: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 3, pp. 603-614.

[3] Morr, Z. el & M. Mödlinger 2014. Middle Bronze Age Metal Artefacts and Metallurgical Practices at the Sites of Tell Arqa, Mougharet el-Hourriyeh, Yanouh and Kharihi in Lebanon, in: Levant 46:1 pp 27-42.

[4] David, A. 2019. Uninscribed Amethyst Scarabs from the Southern Levant, in: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 381, pp. 57-81.

[5] Jong, L. de 2010. Performing Death in Tyre: the Life and Afterlife of a Roman Cemetery in the Province of Syria, in: American Journal of Archaeology Vol 114 no. 4, pp. 597-630.

[6] B. Fowlkes-Childe & M. Seymour, 2019, The World Between Empires. Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 126. I would like to thank Tania Zaven of the DGA for providing me with this reference and showing me this fragment in the National Museum of Beirut.

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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.