Featured Iraqi Neckless

I am seeking help to identify this neckless origin, age and if it is a ceremonial piece. I obtained the neckless while in Mosul Iraq during the war. I would appreciate anyone with knowledge of this piece to respond. Thank you

 

Same for me. It's nickel and seed beads - India and Nepal do a ton of similar pieces, but the Mary image is a departure. OTOH there are or were a good-sized population of Catholics in southern India.

 

Before the "war" there was an estimated 1.4 million Christians in Iraq,guess it could have been from Iraq. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/05/iraqi-christians-nineveh-plain/589819/

 

Two of the images full size.....and WELCOME to ANTIQUERS, John!!!



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We have a number of friends and acquaintances who are both Christian and Jewish who have migrated to the USA. At one time, there was a large Jewish community in Iraq. Now it is about 3000. Many are here. Christians have come from almost all the strongly Arab countries, seeing their demise written in recent history. They all miss their homelands but are happy to not be there now. It is sad to see them driven out of their homelands.

 

I purchased it in 1999 from a local Iraqi thru the fence while at a U.S. FOB in Mosul Iraq (Kurdish region).

 

Not a safest transaction......but it is a nice looking piece !!!

 

neckless...

 

Were you the "grunt"?

 

It’s sweet! This is almost certainly made for Christians, but anecdotally the style reminds me of the Persian houses from the 17th-19th centuries, decorated with pictures of western women. An odd mash-up, but definitely interesting!

 

Welcome John, that is a pretty rare piece.
The two support chains going from the top centre of the pendant to the necklace proper are a feature of Kurdish necklaces, and the type of link is seen a lot in Kurdish jewellery too (though not exclusively). It is silver, btw, not nickel.
The pendant is in Middle Eastern prayer box style, and could contain a piece of paper with a blessing or a prayer.
Since there is still a Kurdish Christian minority, and some Middle Eastern Christian faiths have links to the Roman Catholic church, I would say this really is a Kurdish Christian necklace.

The nun holding the crucifix and roses is St Theresa of Lisieux, a French saint. Not that unusual, given the connection between several Middle Eastern Christian churches and the Roman Catholic church.



There was a tenth century Kurdish prince who converted to Christianity, he could be the repoussé horse rider on the back, but that is speculation on my part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Dahhak

 

This is so cool!!!

 

Forgot to add, the blue of the beads serves to ward off evil. Placing the beads sideways creates an eye effect, which means protection against the evil eye.

 

@Any Jewelry
I am humbled daily by your immense knowledge!

 

This one was easy, I have some Kurdish necklaces myself. And my grandmother had Theresa of Lisieux items all over the place.

 

it must have taken a lot for someone to part with this..............
or
it wasn't theirs in the 1st place...! ???

 

That is a very, very good point— it was acquired in a war-zone. That went right over my head.

 

Was the first thing I thought about, but then I have been here a few years and have seen items from war zones, occupied zones etc appear on the forums. When they do, I always have a multitude of scenarios in my head.

 

*Please file under: “things that made me go scrutinize my own collection”