Sekhab beaded necklace worn by a woman after her wedding. Djerba, Tunisia, [first half of 20th century].
Mixture of spices, cast; silver, cast and pierced (gilt); silver thread; sheet brass; cloisonné enamel; plastic beads.
Necklace consisting of 54 beads, shaped like hearts or droplets, made from a special mixture of spices. The beads, painstakingly prepared by young women before their weddings, consist of a preserved mixture that may include gray amber powder (which was costlier than gold), nutmeg, saffron, cloves, rose petals, and eau de toilette. In contact with the body – or in contact with one another – the beads emit a potent fragrance that is meant to attract the husband, and at the same time ward off evil spirits. Separating the bunches of spice beads – with each bunch consisting of nine beads – are red plastic beads intended to look like coral, as well as pendants with star-and-crescent symbols, elongated silver links with engraved eye-shaped decorations, a pair of spherical silver beads with silver-thread decorations, and a pair of silver cubes similarly decorated with silver thread (one also decorated with colored enamel). At the end of the necklace is a large pendant composed of a pair of pentagonal cones decorated in silver thread. Suspended from the large pendant are five small hamsa pendants – two of them cast, two with enamel, and one made from silver thread.
Approx. 50X10 cm.
References: In All Their Finery: Jewels from the Jewish World, item no. 19; Le bijou traditionnel en Tunisie, pp. 26, 41.