Persian jewelry from the 11th century

Nikon 5400 Digital Capture This is a gold earring from Iran, thought to have been made in the early 11th century. It is 3.5cm and made from gold sheet, wire and granulation. The earring is currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

persianecklace11thcent This element is merely a part of a larger necklace, made from gold sheet, wire and granulations. It has been set with rubies. The size is 5.08 x 5.08 x 0.9525 cm. It is currently in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

persianring11cent This ring is from Eastern Iran, made between the 11th & 12th century. It is 2.19cm wide and 2.3cm tall. The ring is made from gold, set with turquoise and niello. It is in the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya Museum.

persianbracelet11thcent This is one of two matching bracelets (the other can be seen here) made from gold, shanked from gold sheet with soldered cats on it. 5.89 cm high and 6.15 cm wide, they are also inset with spinels. The bracelets are in the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyya Museum. Details of the niello- persianbraceletdetail

Kaşık Oyunları

Kaşık Oyunları is a wooden spoon dance from Turkish Anatolia. The history is unclear, as there is much oral history but little evidence in pictures and documents. Depending on the region, it was done in groups in a circle. However, women were not always allowed. The earliest reference to dancing with wooden spoons I have found is in the works of Fredrik Hasselquist in the 18th century-

He was dressed in a short jacket was bare footed and looked like a Turkish soldier. He held in each hand two wooden spoons. Thus accoutred he skipped about the middle of the room and moved his head and arms as much as his feet at the fame often bending his body backwards forwards and sideways. He held the spoons two in each in such a manner between his fingers that he could frequently strike them together which with the rough music made a noise no ways agreeable to ears.

The full entry can be seen at Voyages and Travels in the Levant in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52 by Fredrik Hasselquist. If anyone has any other references, please let me know!
Recommended reading
Spoon Dance In The Hippocampus
Turkish Dance & Styles on Les Arts Turcs Tours.
Dances of the “Roma” Gypsy Trail From Rajastan to Spain: Balkan “”Cocek”" by Miriam Peretz. From the Dom Research Centre.
A Pictorial History of Turkish Dancing:
From Folk Dancing to Whirling Dervishes, Belly Dancing to Ballet by Metin And.

Some Coptic shawls

shawl3rd4thcentshawldetail3rd4thcent This shawl is from between the 3rd and 4th century C.E. The Egyptian shawl is plain weave linen, with a tapestry weave decoration sewn on. The size of the shawl is 70 cm by 45 cm. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

◊

browncopticshawl8th9thcent This shawl has been tapestry woven with wool and linen between the 8th and 9th century. It is 21.9 cm by 33 cm. It is also has Coptic script on it, as opposed to tiraz bands with Arabic. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

◊

darkcopticshawl8th9thcent Also made between the 8th and 9th century, this particular shawl is wool, tapestry woven with linen decorations. There is also Coptic script. It is 33 cm high by 79.4 cm wide. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

◊

copticshawl9th10thcent This shawl is much like the others- wool and linen tapestry woven with Coptic script. However by this stage there were also Arabic tiraz becoming the fashion from the Abbasid and Fatimid Empires. The shawl is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Updated coffee article with added chocolate!

I have updated my previous published coffee article and thought I would share!

Coffeehistory

Due to some (fairly harmless) addictions to chocolate too, I also wrote a small article on the history of chocolate & how to make it in the period style.

Medieval Chocolate

They are both pdf documents. Enjoy!

For those who are having trouble, try the .odt & .doc documents.

Coffeehistory (odt)

Medieval Chocolate (doc)

Altramar

Altramar are an American musical ensemble that specialise in music from Medieval times. Specifically Celtic, Italian and Iberian music.
This is an Iberian song, from the album Iberian Garden Vol II.


This a 12th century Hispanic-Arabic muwashshahah.
The music can be bought from Altramar or Amazon.

Some Abbasid glassware

abbasidplainglass This bottle is from Abbasid ruled Syria, from the 8th-9th century C.E. It is hand-blown glass, with a tooled pontil. The height is 7.9 cm and the diametre is 6 cm. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
decoratedabbasidbottle This glass bottle is from the 7th-8th century C.E. It is hand-blown with a hand tooled pontil and applied decoration. The height is 9.2 cm and diametre is 3.2 cm. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
moldedabbasidbottle This is a bottle from the 9th-10th century Iraq or Syria. It is made of green/yellow glass and dark blue glass, blown in two parts and impressed with tongs to make stylized figures of a running animal with long ears and a tail that ends in a palmette-like motif. The two different glasses were fused together in the incalmo technique. The height is 19.1 cm and the diametre is 9.5 cm. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
fragmentabbasidcup This is a fragment of a cup, plain glass which had been impressed with tongs. It is 9th century, with a height of 5.1 cm and a diametre of 6.3 cm. The fragment is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Recommended Reading
Glass of the Sultans: Twelve Centuries of Masterworks from the Islamic World by Stefano Carboni & David B. Whitehouse. Via Google Books.
Incised Glass Vessels from the Umayyad and Abbasid-Fatimid Periods at Bet Shean, Israel by Shulamit Hadad. JStor article. Also available for download via the Internet Archive.
The Science and Archaeology of Materials: An investigation of inorganic materials by Julian Henderson. Via Google Books.
Some Problems in Early Islamic Glass by Margaret O’Hea. Via Academia.edu.

There are many other pieces of glassware at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.