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What is Gotba? a place?
Nice one, first time i see it sewn on a fabric and what lovely coral branches
"Gotba" (or more correctly "Qatba") is the type of pendant. There is a pen and ink illustration of this type of pendant in Paul Eudel's book (circa 1905), page 62. The silver dealer told me that this particular necklace is from Matamata (southern Tunisia). I liked it because it appears to be in its original authentic configuration. This type of necklace can be seen in many of the old 19th and early 20th century photos of Tunisian women.
Ayis, what do you think about the chains? They are a bit different from others I had previously seen on Tunisian jewelry. I was looking at a book about Libyan jewelry, and they showed similar chains called "besh-mar" used for belts. Is this the same type of chain? I also had not seen this type of pendant on fabric before, but I think this condition is original (or at least old). It appears to be machine woven cotton and the colors are not stamped onto the fabric...they are actually integral colored threads (something that I don't think one sees anymore on machine-made trim). It is tough to find the gotba pendants in the old Medina in their historic configurations. A lot of them are being re-purposed for modern jewelry designs very different from the old.
That works very well, Edith - a very satisfying aesthetic entity. I can only speak in aesthetic terms because I have seen too little Tunisian jewellery (despite seeing thousands of pieces of ethnic jewellery over many years and with an open eye). Whatever happened here, the end result to my mind is very pleasing.
Thanks Joost, I like it too. I am trying to figure out the Libyan connection with some of my pieces from the south of the Tunisia. Ayis has been very helpful with a lot of information about this. Unlike the chains on my other pieces, which can be bunched up or folded back on themselves, the chains on this gotba have almost a cable type weave...they can flex but cannot be bunched up (Libyan chain?). It seems to me that a lot of the bits and pieces the women use are crossing the political borders, and one ends up with a pieces that combines "Tunisian" and "Libyan" elements. This is reflecting a social dynamic that has been happening here I think for a long time. For example, I have a housekeeper whose mother was Libyan and father Tunisian.
The "besh-mar" chains are somewhat thighter and less loose than the ones hanging from this gotba pendant.
My understanding is that this pendant was also used in Libya so another hybrid from the cultural region overlapping the libyan and tunisian border.
BTW, Gotba means "axis" and thus referring to the central element of many chokers of whom yours is the most widespread type but one can find round "gotba" as well on the coast made out from very rich material.