Amulet case, Teke Turkmen, Afghanistan, mid-20th century (TRC 2024.0352).Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 4 February 2024
Over the last few years, Willem and I have regularly been travelling to Nice in southern France to talk with May and Rolando Schinasi, a lovely elderly couple with a fascinating history. He is an Italian born in Egypt before the Second World War (he remembers the battle of El Alamein!), she is French and they met in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1960s. This was before the Hippy Trail and there were very few foreigners visiting Afghanistan, let alone living there. They left the country after the Russian invasion at Christmas 1979.
The Schinasi’s and Willem have spent many years in Afghanistan, albeit at different times, and love the country as it used to be and its ancient historical roots.
Because of this bond the TRC had already become the home to part of May and Rolando's Afghan and Uzbek clothing and textile collection and the inspiration behind an exhibition of Afghan dress held at the TRC in 2010-2011 (still to be seen in the form of an online exhibition).
Our latest visit to see May and Ronaldo, late January, was a little fraught, as we were caught up in the ripples of the French farmers' closure of many main roads, as well as that of Belgian farmers' actions around Brussels.
The car trip took twice as much time as normal. Coming back was even longer and more complex, driving at night along provincial routes, but we have seen, albeit in the dark, some medieval towns in France we would never have visited otherwise!
Embroidered bag, Hazara, Afghanistan, 1960s-1970s (TRC 2024.0239).
But why did we take make this trip? Basically May and Rolando had decided it was time for the TRC to be given their extensive collection of Turkmen, Uzbek and Nuristan jewellery, three of the major ethnicities in Afghanistan and beyond.
Two pairs of amuletic hangers for a woman's headdress. Afghan, 1960s-1970s (TRC 2024.0342a b and 2024.0343a b).There are some lovely pieces including a bridal crown, forehead bands, earrings, nose rings, hair decorations, as well as clasps and panels for the front of dresses and coats. Some of the pieces are heavy!
And then there are the toe and finger rings in a myriad of different forms, sizes, weights and styles of decoration. There are also tweezers, toilette items, amulets, magical texts, ink balls, and even scissor cases. There are moulds for making individual amulets and motifs, as well as a jeweller’s weighing scales. In total some 400 objects. The TRC was also given various garments and textiles, also from Afghanistan and collected mainly in the 1960s.
Basically the Schinasi collection represents a cross section of the range of jewellery that used to be worn by various nomadic and semi-nomadic groups in Afghanistan and surrounding countries. We have started photographing and cataloguing these pieces, and some of them can already be accessed online.
When all of the objects have been studied, catalogued and photographed we will let you know. In due course we will include the objects in an extensive online exhibition. For the time being, I have included some provisional photographs in this blog.
Embroidered band, Uzbek, Afghanistan, 1960s-1970s (TRC 2024.0255).
In a more general context, we aim to write an extensive blog about the TRC's Afghan collection, which now amounts to some 1200 objects, and which represents a detailed overview of the material culture of the Afghan peoples, sadly affected, for many years since the late 1970s, by civil war, foreign interference, religious intolerance and natural calamities.
From left to right and top to bottom: Pair of ornate tweezers, a toilette set with tweezers and scoops, an ink ball, and a scissor case. Afghanistan, 1960s-1970s.The new donation raises questions about the TRC and jewellery. Jewellery is an essential part of dress and identity, a core business of the TRC. All too often jewellery is displayed in exhibitions separately from the garments and outfits they were designed to be worn with.
There are good reasons for doing so, such as security, the effect of some metals on textiles, etc., but it can also give an incorrect impression of the total appearance of the wearer.
The current TRC exhibition, also online, about fashion in the 1920s is a good example of how outfits need to be ‘finished’ with the right accessories, in this case very long necklaces, chokers and headbands.
As the TRC increases in size, we have to examine how we can build a suitable collection of jewellery and related garments. It is not the TRC’s intention to take on the role of a jewellery museum (traditional and/or modern forms), but there is definitely a need for more awareness of the techniques, roles and symbolism associated with this important and essential dress accessory.
Thank you, Rolando and May, for your faith in the TRC, and more importantly, for having made this collection of a rapidly changing, and sorely tested culture.
