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Narrative

The date made refers to the necklace -- not the beads themselves. The carved and crosshatched cow bone 'dividers' were made by a Kalash'a man, a carver from Grom Village in the Rumbur Valley. The red and white beads are Czech trade beads; the red, oval glass beads are called 'sot-ki' by the Kalash'a; and the white ones with blue tinges are older (more than fifty years old). The circular flat red beads are Muslim prayer beads, decorated with the crescent moon and stars on one side and incised with Arabic characters on the other. The green beads are also from a Muslim prayer 'mala' or necklace. Both the flat red and green beads date to the early 20th century.

History Of Use

This is a long version of a woman's necklace, highly prized by Kalash'a women. The beads and colour scheme used in this piece are representative of the style used by Kalash women in the 1970s to the 1990s. Since then the red colour has become less popular and has been replaced by bright orange and green beads.

Description

Woman's necklace comprised of eight strands of beads separated and held in place by eight evenly spaced long, flat cow bone ‘dividers’, which are carved with a cross-hatch pattern. Within the 'dividers' are: six sections of red, oval glass beads, framed by white-blue beads; two sections of the same red and white-blue beads with additional circular, flat, red beads decorated with crescent moon and stars on one side and Arabic characters on the other, flanked by green white beads; and one section of red, white-blue, and green beads nearest the tie closure. The tie is made of greying thread that is tied tightly together in several knots.