Earrings Item Number: 2878/9 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Pair of brass earrings, each made of a single cylindrical length of metal, bent into an elliptical-shaped hook at the top end. A metal wire is wrapped closely around the length of each earring, and there is a brass ball at the base of the length.
History Of Use
In the past these earrings were worn only by individuals whose families had high standing ("atrozan") as a result of their own or their relatives' feast giving or generosity. A Kafir woman takes her social rank from her father. If they were feast-givers, she was permitted to wear the earrings.
Narrative
One of these earrings was collected from a Kam Kati woman in Kamdesh Village in the Bashgal River Valley, Nuristan, Afghanistan. The other was purchased from a shopkeeper on the Kabul River in Old Kabul. The Kalash'a also wear this type of earring if available, however it was mainly associated with the heartland of Nuristan, in the valleys of the western watershed of the Hindu Kush Mountains, before conversion to Islam in the 1890s. They are appropriate accessories to both the Kalash'a women's costume as well as the Nuristani women's costume. This earring style appears to have been most popular in the Waigal Valley in Nuristan. Some of the Kalash'a clans in Rumbur Valley, Pakistan, say their ancestors come from the Waigal Valley across the mountains.
Item History
- Made in Nuristan, Afghanistan
- Collected during 1977
- Owned by Tamarin Productions Inc. before May 4, 2011
- Received from Tamarin Productions Inc. (Seller) and Ruth Read Bequest (Funding source) on May 4, 2011
What
- Name
- Earrings
- Identification Number
- 2878/9 a-b
- Type of Item
- earring
- Material
- brass metal
- Part B
- height 6.5 cm, width 0.6 cm, depth 2.2 cm
- Part A
- height 6.0 cm, width 0.6 cm, depth 2.2 cm
Who
- Culture
- Nuristani
- Previous Owner
- Tamarin Productions Inc.
- Received from
- Tamarin Productions Inc. (Seller) and Ruth Read Bequest (Funding source)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Nuristan, Afghanistan
When
- Collection Date
- during 1977
- Ownership Date
- before May 4, 2011
- Acquisition Date
- on May 4, 2011
Other
- Item Classes
- metalwork
- Condition
- good
- Accession Number
- 2878/0009 a-b