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Comments
Wow, that's impressive!
The circular dangles certainly look Yemeni and that's also the overall feel of this piece in my opinion. But then again there are all these unusual features... the larger domed silver parts of the choker remind me of similarly shaped pieces from Ethiopia.
Dear Betty, The large granulate breast shapes could be Ethiopian as well as yemeni, but in Ethiopian they are not used on the square pendants of the Muria necklaces, more on the cresent (banana) necklace. Also the small pendants, dangles are not Ethiopian,very unusual for me and so beautiful the way the star is featuring,lovely. Also The way this(top quality) coral is used again Yemeni, not done in Ethiopia.
The chains could be both Ethiopia or Yemen. Like you I place this necklacce in Yemen.
I agree with you, Ingrid.
If I remember right, however, there is a kind of Muria that also uses breast-shaped silver parts (three in a row), but they are no squares ... I searched for a picture but could only find one of a single element:
Wow Betty, that is a very very old pendant. What an age on it. It does look like the one we are talking about. So now the question is is this pendant of the extra photo, Ethiopian or Yemeni?
The single pendant was offered by an Ethiopian dealer a while ago and I actually have a picture of an Ethiopian Muria partly made up of such pendants (from the book "Treasures of the Bir Collection, p.113).
Therefore I would say it is Ethiopian.
Other than the coral i would lean towards East Africa as well...with the slight difference of somewhere a little bit northerly around the Blue nile up to Nubian north Sudan.
The coral is here out of place, possibly a rearrangment or augmenting the silver?
The triple breast pendant is typical of this region and i have almost the same made in gold and it comes from Sudani or Egyptian Nubia!
The lower round dangles are also a staple of this same region although i ahve only seen them made in gold and mostly adorning hair.
The almond shaped pendants that come in the middle level are are to be found (following my finds) a bit to the east, in kordofan, darfur and among some tubu tribes where they come strung on giraffe tail hair (a fascinating jewel): also ften made in gold, but i have seen silver ones.
So far i am ruling out Yemen (the coral is gorgeous though and of very good quality) until further discovery....coral beads were used among Nubians of North sudan and south Egypt also!!
I feel it is a very very attractive piece
Alaa I was very surprised that you do not place it in Yemen. But I must say that the work itself is quite more robust that Yemeni work. Also I did not know Sudan has items like these pieces, you opened another field I have to go into. I associated Sudan more with colored glass beads. Just like Mauritania I learned via Ethnic Jewels Its beautiful silver beads etc. background. Mountains of looking up to go through. Good thing so much help with the internet infos. Gr. Ingrid.
I shall at first, step down from the pedestal and correct one thing.
My conclusion was made following a sum of remarks however a sum of remarks doesnt make the truth !
So it is more about a gut feeling.
Furthermore i am very cautious about the broad and easy "yemen" pedigree/label as it popularly (in the web at least and in many books as well) cannibalize pieces from different cultures such as those fro Saudi Arabia for example and other regions as well....in the region around Bab el mandeb straight, ethnical borders are very challenging to draw since early human migration from Africa and maybe as late as the Rashaida back migration from arabia to Africa!!
Silver pieces made by a Yemeni smith in Jeddah and bought in Mecca by an ethnic beja Sudani before this country ever existed and eventually strung with various imported beads by his wife, then sold to a Luxor based dealer who cut before selling the parts to a visiting tourist, brought back to Europe and reworked in a style with other antique beads following a yemeni model seen on a book: where does the final jewel stand on the map of ethnic jewelry traditions?!
On the other hand pinning a piece into territorries that has changed name and political borders through time is quite challenging as is the Case for The Sudanese mammooth which encompasses a continent wealth worth of traditions and saying "Sudan" doesnt help much: Is it Nubian, Beja, Zaghawa, Bagara.....?
The single most prominent feature are the breast/dome elements which are undoubtedly pointing towards the Ethiopian plateau or around it.
There are out there more to keep any self declared expert's mouth definitely shut: the wealth of ethnic jewelry is just too vast and humbling and it implies much multidisciplinary knowledge that a lifetime of research is not enough!
The existence of such meeting forums does proove salvatory in that regard and i am proud to belong to the only animal specie in the whole planet which never stops to learn new things its entire life! :-)
I have to ponder on this. Thank you Alaa. for sure jewelry has crossed borders and became popular and than Ethnic to its adopted region.
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