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Great rings, love them very much. They look like beautifully designed buildings :)
Superb. Beautiful samples of Saharan art.
they are all lovely!
Very nice and a grand selection Saharan art is so clean and modern -- really timeless. Hey, I guess it reflects stark , clean lines of the Sahara itself. There are other cultures that produce this type of tower ring, Turkoman, Yemen for example and I am curious as to what they represent -- do they represent mosques or towers or mountains? or are they just substantial showy pieces which indicate the wealth of the wearer?
splendid rings, not easy to get a selection like this one
yes patti, they represent almost all what you mentienned. the 2 in the back, as i know, represent the mpsque of djenne and mopti, worn from selected people only ( in the passt) i saw them as pendants or hair rings in very few occasions and some women. there is a famous foto of a tuareg girl wearing one with silver frlower on , as a pendant. see the picture
the one left is also made and worn from the dogons. it represents the famous dogon grains silo (one of the important items they had when they were hiding themselves in the mountains )
the right one, i know as symbol of protection.the midle one i cant say exactly
Very striking.So strong in caracter. I also love the solidity of the rings itself.
Surmising about the meaning of such elements is the only acceptable answer but we can readily suggest here a couple of reading keys:
-First pre islamic fertility symbol depicting, as everyone would guess, a male element
-Last post islamic religious symbol, meaning to look like a religious building, a mosque or most probably a sufi shrine
However i can't elude the pan sahelian / pan saharan use of the knob/nail often present on bracelets which fits with the pre islamic theory......more "sympathetic" comparisons can be done with other customary uses of protruding elements in sahara's edges folklore which again confirm the fertility thoery.
@ Patti, wealth representation should not be ruled out, but wealth itself is closely connected to material multiplication: so fertility as well!
N.B. Not all the rings presented here fall into this categorization
Thanks everyone. Alaa and Rabah, I'm grateful for your sharing of your encyclopedic knowledge! Rabah, may I ask where the photo is from? It's great to have such photo resources.
I'm not confident that the middle ring is North African, just a feeling that it's Tuareg. Any thoughts?
The six domes one, dogon and mali
The rest all sahel/sahara and west africa
You areright preethi, it hastuareg samples
The picture, i have it since years,forgot from where i got it exactly, i think a friend sent it to me via facebook . It is actualy a known foto and the girl was fotografed many times, i saw more fotos of her in the net
This one was in a festival in the ayir, north niger
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