Photos

Comments

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  Patricia Deany May 21, 2011 at 11:41pm

  This is soooo beautiful, who cares where it is from. But, the cabochons look berber. and  I think I see an Essaurian rose at the top-- So that is my guess.
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  Johanne May 22, 2011 at 12:09am

  Wonderful piece! I think it is made by East Tracian silversmiths, the enamel and glass stones, it is typical for that area .EasternTrace extended from the south -west  coast of the Black Sea as far as Istanbul, to the Aegean and the Hellespont (the Dardanelles), close to Turkey.

  Thank you for beiing friends!
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  SARAH CORBETT May 22, 2011 at 1:58am

  I don't think it is a Moroccan piece, but I like it a lot!

  Sx
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  Alaa eddine SAGID May 22, 2011 at 10:31am

  johane is right

   

  these belts were done by the "kouyoumitzides", tracian silversmiths, they were called "ZONARI ME TIN KORONA" or "crown belt", offered during the engagement ceremony

   

  usually they have a much more imposing and larger buckle in the shape of a crown
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  Joost Daalder May 23, 2011 at 6:23pm

  Definitely from Thrace (not "Trace"), a large Grecian area north of Turkey. You will find out more about it by going to Wikipedia, for example, or by typing in "Thrace" on Google. Ayis is right to point out that this is a wedding belt and that usually there is a large crown component in the centre: consult e.g. Truus Daalder, *Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment*, p. 371, where a good example with a crown is shown. A similar example to that also occurs in Wolf-Dieter Seiwert's *Jewellery from the Orient*, p. 22 (his definition of "the Orient" is somewhat broad, as this is from Greece, but culturally his approach is defensible). As well, you would find a fine piece with a good crown on p. 25 of the little-known *Cosmesis*, a small but very good book (German/French) specifically concerned with post-Byzantine feminine jewellery from Greece, drawing on the collection of the Benaki Museum in Athens. That work is an essential possession for anyone seriously interested in jewellery worn by Greek women in recent centuries, and a joy to consult. But it is perhaps now hard to find.
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  howah January 16, 2013 at 8:11pm

  I am now in my Balkan craze phase and this belt is of a quality I would love to add to my own collection someday.
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  Ethnic Embellishments January 17, 2013 at 3:37am

  It was a good belt, and while in my debating stage, it sold for a mere $175....