Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba: Regional Yemeni Jewelry

by Marjorie Ransom

Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba documents a disappearing artistic and cultural tradition with over three hundred photographs showing individual pieces, rare images of women wearing their jewelry with traditional dress, and the various regions in Yemen where the author did her field research. Ransom’s descriptions of the people she met and befriended, and her exploration of the significance of a woman’s handmade jewelry with its attributes of power, protection, beauty, and personal identity, will appeal to ethnic jewelry fans, ethnographers, jewelry designers, and art historians. Amulet cases, hair ornaments, bridal headdresses, earrings, necklaces, ankle and wrist bracelets are all beautifully photographed in intricate detail, interspersed with the author’s own photographs of the women who shared their stories and their hospitality with her. A chapter on the history of silversmithing in Yemen tells the surprising story of the famed Jewish Yemeni silversmiths, many of whom left Yemen in the late 1940s. This is the first in-depth study of Yemeni silver, uniquely illustrated with photographs of a world that is transforming before our eyes, and animated with the portraits of a precious legacy.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2013

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a coffee table book, but it's beautiful enough to be one. It's a deep glimpse into the old traditional world of Yemen, featuring great photos of jewelry from (mostly) the last century, wonderful embroidered dresses, and women wearing fantastic silver jewelry (or putting it on their daughters for a photograph, since they don't want to be photographed themselves.) The author has spent a lot of time traveling around Yemen and visiting with people in the small towns and villages where the traditional ways of life still persist, and the text brings the reader there. As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Yemen in the 70's, this book brought back so many fond memories of my time spent with women, admiring their jewelry while sitting on the floor and drinking glass after glass of sweet tea.

[Zamedine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own a lot of books covering different historical and regional styles of jewellery but this is one of the most spectacular. Page after page documenting the exceptional artistry and craftsmanship of Yemeni jewellers, as well as documenting regional clothing styles alongside which the jewellery pieces were/are worn.

Yemen is a country that is probably remote to most of us and may be more associated with war and famine than art and beauty. Let this book rewrite your mental picture of this diverse and richly historical country.

It’s also the only book on jewellery I own that has actually inspired me to go out and collect examples similar to pieces depicted simply to own them and see them in person given that the examples I now own are too small or fragile to actually wear. These are items I haven’t bought to beautify myself but simply because they *are* objects of beauty and small technical marvels of filigree and granulation.

[Simona Campidano · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book had beautiful pictures and some interesting information, although a bit superficial in my opinion. I was hoping for a better analysis of the jewelry, its meaning, and history.

[Frederic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has excellent photos of an impressive number and variety of pieces of silver jewelry from Yemen, from the author's obviously quite impressive collection, with a number of photos of local women wearing their jewelry. But the text is mainly anecdotal; there is little real information about the pieces, styles, or makers. There is often reference to a maker's mark or signature on a piece, but those are never shown. Pieces are identified as to their origin, but the reader is not given the information to make such identifications. So we have regions, which we are told have recognizable distinctive traditions, but the attributes of those regional distinctions are not offered -- even looking at the photos, region by region, it's not clear what the criteria are that might allow differentiation. So while this is a lovely book to look at, it's not going to help collectors to identify pieces or even really to add much to our understandings. A shame, I had high hopes for this one given the author's experience in the region.

[Thomas Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marjorie Ransom is a collector and an expert on Yemeni silver jewelry. She has a vast collection of high quality pieces that she presents in this oversize, but not coffee table book. Complementing the beautifully photographed pieces are engrossing accounts of how she found the items, what the owners thought of them, how the jewelry was used in their lives. We also learn something about the men who made them. A scholarly work that doesn't feel like one.