Featured Unidentified -- but intriguing -- necklace

Greetings all! I found the following necklace recently, and would very much appreciate your collective wisdom. I will tag @Any Jewelry ;please let me know if there is anyone else I should add.

I suspect that it has been cobbled together and it is not an original or traditional piece. The suspension material is just black (cotton) thread, with more metallic thread wound around it to reinforce and create patterns.


The 6 square silver-colored plaques are what intrigued me. They have Arabic script on both sides, presumably Koranic? They measure almost exactly 1x1 inch each and are fairly thick. Has anyone seen the like before or know what they are?

The central silvery pendant is also quite thick, flower-shaped, with clear glass? stone? inserts. 2-3 of the tear-drop inserts are missing, but all the rest are there. To my eyes, it seems an odd juxtaposition with the plaques and the dangles; the latter look very Middle Eastern, but the flower seems much more Asian. I have yet to clean anything.



Any pointers would be much appreciated! Thank you.

 

I see no reason to suspect that it's not all original

 

@komokwa , thank you for your response. Would you tell me why you think that?

 

Indeed an intriguing piece, and I agree with komo that it is original. It is from Northern India or neighbouring Pakistan.

It could be silver that has blackened over time, the way silver does. Indian and Pakistani necklaces are often on cotton cord and decorated with special twined cotton and metal thread wound beads.

I think so too, Koranic protective amulets. There is a small possibility they are protective texts in Urdu, which is written in a modified Arabic script.
It is an unusual, necklace, which must have held special meaning to its owner.

These specific dangles are very Indian/Pakistani.
The sound of the dangles expell evil, so they are not only decorative, but also protective.
This particular glass inlayed lotus flower is seen a lot in the north, from Delhi to the foothills of the Himalayas, and east into Pakistan. The glass inlay is probably foil backed.

All the metal elements are silver, and I think the beads are wound with silver thread. Be very careful when you clean the wound beads and with the glass. The metal wire can break, and fluids can get in between the glass and the backing foil.

 

Thank you, @Any Jewelry . I am very grateful for all your observations, and will follow your recommendations to a "T". Now that I have a general geographic area to focus on, I will do some digging and I will let you know what I find.

 

About the dangles, the necklace in the centre of the photo below also has those grouped dangles. It is an antique from Himachal Pradesh, the Indian Himalayan foothills.
The yellow "red eye" pendants are foil-backed glass set in silver, and on either side are wound silver thread teardrop shapes. The "eyes" are also protective.
The cord was almost completely worn away at the back with just frayed ends remaining, so I added antique silver chains.

 

I actually have a large northern Indian pendant that is shaped like the lotus pendant on yours. It has yellow "red eye" foil-backed glass inlay like the necklace I posted above, so different in that respect.
I don't have a photo of it, so I can't show you.

 

Oh, just what I've learned from AJ.....after hanging around here for several years..!
.........