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Saudi Bedouin Veil

Posted by Lynn Ardent on June 22, 2015 at 1:39am

An old Saudi Bedouin face veil, my best guess is Harb from the Hijaz region. The cotton cloth is richly worked in silver and vegetable dye or mud paint. Tiny silver beads line either edge of the veil, and flat silver thread has been woven into strips and sewn on. There are gulf pearls strung between the eye holes and decorating the part of the mask where the face would be. The coins range in dates from 1760 to 1948, the majority from the early 1900s. My favorite two are a 1760 Maria Theresia thaler, and an 1840 East India company rupee with a young Queen Victoria. I have not been collecting head ornaments but I could not resist this. Peter told me I would eventually collect them and I guess he was right! I have a second small mask from the same region that I will photograph and post soon.

Comments

Peter Hoesli June 22, 2015 at 6:27pm

Dear Lynn; I am glad to hear that you started collecting these items. I hope that you will enjoy them as much as I do. Now, this piece is simply wonderful and I congratulate you on a fabulous purchase. The red color of this veil is to die for - I LOVE it! The wonderful silver border beads and the rare coins make this piece extraordinary! Well Done Lynn, you won't regret having starting to purchase face veils! With kind regards and best wishes from Jordan. Peter
ingrid Langerak June 23, 2015 at 9:57am

Wonderful Lynn, I have never seen a face veil in real also didn.t know they are so complex.
What a treasure. I imagine this one to be heavy the attachment looks to be of leather, does it go around the ears, or tight at the back of the head. Gr. Ingrid
Joost Daalder June 23, 2015 at 10:02am

I agree with you and others, Lynn - a beautiful and most enjoyable piece!
Joost Daalder June 23, 2015 at 10:08am

https://ethnicjewels.ning.com/photo/early-wedding-veil-from-a-kazakh...
Alaa eddine SAGID June 24, 2015 at 3:26pm

An important piece and very rich. i among all like the deep and rich colors and patina. At first sight i tought it was made of leather!

Great find
Lynn Ardent June 24, 2015 at 3:34pm

Thank you so much Peter, Ingrid, Joost, and Alaa for the kind comments. Alaa, the red tinted parts of this mask are like a very thickly applied mud which is built up to have a shiny texture and totally obscure the weave of the fabric underneath. So it was understandable you saw leather on first glance. I think it might literally be mud tinted with a vegetable pigment because it comes off if it touches anything damp.

Ingrid this is fairly heavy, a few hundred grams I think, and it has a double leather attachments which go around the back of the head, at the forehead and at the same level as the eyes.

Peter, I knew you would enjoy this, thank you!! I am going to mount and frame it.
Joost Daalder June 25, 2015 at 2:39am

It's a great piece, Lynn. Did you also have a look at this veil which Truus and Linda bought from Linda some years back? Totally different from yours, which I think makes both of them so interesting. https://ethnicjewels.ning.com/photo/early-wedding-veil-from-a-kazakh.... Yours is more visually appealing, I think, but Linda's is quite fascinating and "suggestive" in a different way. Good veils appear hard to get. You've probably seen the Palestinian one, with lots of coins, in *Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment*, I image (currently on show in the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney) - very different again. I do like yours a lot, and totally understand your buying it.
Preethi June 25, 2015 at 6:24pm

Beautiful colours on this veil Lynn. Brings to mind the desert sunset. And those Basra pearls! I have a soft spot for those. Can see why this piece pulled you over into hard-core collector territory :)