Thouma Jambiya by BOUSANI
 

Quite by chance, this Jambiya came my way recently.
The Bousani Family are one of the top Yemenite Jewish Silversmith families, who worked in a small village called Bait Baws, which is on the outskirts of Sana'a. They were famous for the intricate silverwork, and open filigree work which they produced. This Jambiya features both these traits.
As with most of the Jewish Silversmiths in Yemen, they moved to Israel when it came into being in 1949. There is a picture below courtesy of Steve Gracie's book, showing Haim Bousani at work in his shop in Israel in 1950.
The Jambiya itself is mounted on a handmade belt which features gold and silver thread, and is decorated with silver fittings. The BOUSANI stamp is impressed on the back of the triangular piece.
The hilt is horn, with guilded decoration and silver pins. Probably rhino to match the quality of the rest of the piece, but unsure. The blade is nothing out of the ordinary.
I have shown several pics of the jambiya removed from its belt, as a significant amount of the beautiful silverwork is hidden when attached.
Enjoy

Sweet piece Stu :)

Congrats

Lew

Nice one Stu! very beautiful piece, one of the best sliver work I seen in a long time :-)

One further pic added.
Stu

excellent craftmanship on this piece. Can you post close ups of the hilt? perhaps one from the top of the hilt to see if its rhino or not. The blade looks pretty good have you checked if its 2 layer type or a forged one?

Hi Lofty,
The blade looks to be forged. I will take some more pics of the hilt tomorrow when daylight returns.
Stu

Congratulations Stu! Realy excelent quality silver work. A pleasure to see.

Spiral

What a great piece Stu. Excellent all round, I bet you're well chuffed?
I know I would be if it were mine :)
Well done buddy.

:D :D :D :D

Hi Stu
excellent jambiya , especially with his belt, accessories
and the stamp of the master craftsman, which authenticates the origin

if one day you look for a shelter for it, I should ... surely find a place :p
thanks to have given us the pleasure to share with us :D

all the best

à +

Dom

Salaams Khanjar 1~ This is indeed an important addition to Forum reminding us that these silversmiths are all but lost to history although there is a handful left operating in Yemen. It further serves to illustrate the linkage and influence reflected in Omani silverwork underscored by Ruth Hawley in her famous pamphlet Omani Silver who states that Quote "Jews too may have worked silver in Oman".Unquote. She goes on to draw several parallels with Omani and Yemeni silver designs.

See http://thewalters.org/eventscalendar...ls.aspx?e=2548 for further work by such Yemeni Jewish masters including important buckle identification and another Thuma.

Jesus ben Sirach (Ecclesiastus) writing during the Greek period at the end of the third century BCE, describes the activity of Judaic smiths in vivid poetry:

The maker of carving and cunning device,
Who by night as by day has no rest,
Who engraveth signet rings,
Whose art is to make the likeness true,
And his anxiety is to complete the work.
So also the smith that sitteth by the furnace,
And regardeth his weighty vessels;
The flame of the fire cracketh his flesh,
And with the heat of his furnace he gloweth;
To the hammer's sound he inclineth his ear,
And to the vessel's pattern he directeth his eyes.

For an interesting historical version of Jewish craftsmanship including their presence in Yemen and other countries in Arabia see http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpa...017-1_gold.htm :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Hi Lofty,
Here are close ups as requested. Hope someone can identify if its rhino or not.
Stu

Its a nice hilt but I dont think its Rhino. I think there is a chance that the hilt is more recent than the scabbard and blade though but thats ok since its a common practice.

I'm not sure... I would like to see a close-up of the very end. It has a Rhino look to me.

No Rhino there Stu but a very fine piece, congrats.

Gav

Thanks Lofty, Monti and Gav. Must admit I did not think it was rhino, but then I do not have the experience to know by looking at it.
Happy anyway! :)

Hello Stu
I know that you didn't request it, but for the "fun"
we tried to translate the silversmith stamp ... under reserve, should be
AARON BEN CHAMAT

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Dom

Thanks for that. If you have Steve Gracie's book JAMBIYA you will see the same stamp correctly identified as that of the Bousani Family. Perhaps Aaron Ben Chamat is one of the workers, though the I would very much doubt that the "Family" stamp would include someone else's name. :confused:

**************************************
Salaams Khanjar 1.
On closer inspection I note a number of anomalies with the assembled item.

1. The Dagger is added and comes from an ordinary Jambia.
2. It appears that there may be 3 items of silver from different smiths ~

a. The stamped girdle buckle.
b. The top rectangle of the scabbard.
c. The rest of the scabbard furniture. (and probably the belt buttons)

The belt is probably a random Yemeni belt.

It may be that the items 2a and 2c are linked though a simple inspection to the reverse should identify the stamps perhaps?

So that a clear picture can be made on forum can you kindly say which parts are original and which parts were placed by you? :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

so sorry Stuward, to be a disruptive ... but what can I do ? :p
no mention of "Bousani", and I dunno who is this "Aaron Ben Chamat"
but where we may be formal, it's about "Aaron Ben ...."

Aaron even if this name is mentioned in the Holy Quran, is more attributed
to Jewish men than to Muslims
also, you have to take in consideration that the "family name" doesn't exist in Middle-East families

"Bousani" may be, being the general name, under which several families, was regrouped
the name mentioned said ; "Aaron son of Chamat" ... form very classic, in Arabic's world
not in the Great Maghreb (Tunisia - Algeria - Morocco) where the Napoleonic Code has been implanted with the French colonisation

in Middle-East, the complete name for identification of some one, consist of
- name of the person, for instance "Aaron"
- name of his father, for instance "Chamat"
- name for his grand-father, ... "unknown"
even the Christians "Melkite" have the same procedure, as well as Muslims

So, even being part of the group "Bousani" our guy, could well be called "Aaron ben Chamat",
that seems to us absolutely not incongruous. :D

I don't have Steve Gracie's book "Jambiya", but I haven't a lot :o

all the best my friend

à +

Dom

Aaron Ben Chamat equals Aaron son of Chamat?

YES ... SIR :D

The whole item is as I received it. Unlike some, I do not replace parts of the original to try and create something else.
You state that the work is that of three different smiths. Perhaps you could enlighten us with their names, and the particular features which identify them??

:) No need for apology as this is a DISCUSSION Forum. We can only go by information published or made known elseware.

The three different smiths ah yes ... I believe one of them is Bedihi and the other Bawdani (Boudani) and though the stamp is upside down I cannot make it out on the girth buckle but Dom reckons Aaron etc etc...so thats three.

(Frankly Im not "so concerned" with the silver stamps since the one in question is likely to be Jewish and they were all pretty brilliant silversmiths... which is why it may be worth looking on the reverse of the plates.)

It depends what you mean by identifying them as they were very similar in design...all Im pointing out is that there appears to be more than one style and perhaps as many as three ... or four if you include the dagger.
The rectangular plate at the throat of the scabbard is certainly Jewish work but of a much older date...it is evenly very worn with a deeper patina and a quality to it that speaks of Bedihi in my view.
The bigger plates below may be Bawdani; certainly Jewish but not as old...
The belt buckle dominant feature marking it as different from the others is the very long leaf folded silver wire designs probably a speciality of Aaron... by the way there is an item missing which is the other bit of the buckle and an example can be seen at http://vividvault.com/wp-content/upl...-end-Yemen.jpg

Remember that they were making weapons not for themselves but solely for the Yemeni clients so anything could have happened afterwards. In terms of jewellery you probably realise that though Jewish women wore different items of jewellery from the Yemenis notably since it was worn for different reasons mainly practical around the hood of their cloaks but occasionally and for talismanic reasons they wore the jewellery of "the others" as protection from djinns etc....that it was all made by the same Jewish smiths is quite formidable... but it perhaps underscores how difficult tracing stamps may turn out to be because there were many and all of a sudden they almost all vanished.

This is an immense subject but since the door has been opened it can run and run especially on the vast detail as yet uncatalogued about hallmarks/stamps... I would have thought that would have been something to work on since you don't appear to have time for restoration it seems ? Better to leave it to the experts I suppose :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams,
I asked my workshops people to look at the item in case from the restoration/ workshop bench angle further clues could be gleaned by their expert eyes. They think the dagger has been worked on with the addition of a new blade and gilding work on the two floral flowers both added recently. There is araldite behind the top flower (or some odd glue). The hilt is cowhorn. There are several silver styles of different makers.

The scabbard has two different silver makers work with as I said earlier the top rectangle being older, probably antique, though both styles appear to be Jewish Yemeni work. The leather normally expected to line the outer wooden sheath is missing in the top section at least.

The belt is probably a replacement (not that unusual) with a girth buckle as described and floral buttons.

The general consensus is that the project has been worked up from a series of spare parts by a workshop/restorer and aimed not at the Arab market but at the foreign collector/tourist market.

Why? This is a lesson for all beginners in collecting Southern Arabian (and Omani) daggers; The first thing a local observes on inspecting a weapon is the blade. The second thing is the hilt. Two items which are normally quite expensive. Cheap blades/cheap hilts both = Tourist daggers.

Jewish Yemeni makers clients were Yemeni Arabs..Very decerning about their daggers as "badge of office" and willing to pay the price for top quality blades and hilts ~ Thuma or Jambia ~ Neither this blade nor this hilt would adorn the original finely worked scabbard. The final inspection would be on the third subject "the scabbard and belt". The discerning local buyer would probably be looking for silver workmanship from one craftsman; not several.

On the other hand collectors (and tourists) tend not to be so concerned about the blade and provided the scabbard looks ok and the hilt looks reasonable they often take on project worked items of this quality. On the one hand adorned with some superb Jewish plates and on the other less well matched additions though giving an over all impression of "nice."

So it is with the restorers eye that I have reverse engineered this project dagger showing about 6 stages of a reworked/ rebuilding process designed to reintroduce the Thuma onto the international market by cleverly masking the real situation. So the lessons for inspection are important; Consider first the blade then the hilt~ If they aren't up to the mark it is likely not to be real. If its not real its "likely" to be a tourist dagger.

Khanjar 1 whilst I am very upbeat about the Jewish Yemeni stamp and even more so about the superb Jewish Yemeni silver rectangle at the throat of the scabbard, I have to be honest with the restoration revue but at the same time urge further research into the important area of Jewish involvement especially in the stamps. Steven Gracies superb work on Yemeni daggers is a good starting point for anyone researching the general subject and the pictures are brilliant. :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams Ibrahiim,
I find your comments really interesting especially considering that most of the Khanjars and Jambiyas you display on your many posts are obviously new, or at least well worked over so that any originality has been destroyed.
If the Bousani has been worked on in the past, at least it still shows some age, and a good deal of its originality. Bousani was well known for fine silver work, BUT ALSO for pierced work.
It is a well known fact, at least in Yemen, that the Jambiyas themselves are often replaced in an old and original scabbard, so I am not at all surprised if this Jambiya is a replacement, and is not the same age as the rest of the "set".
If you have Steve Gracie's book, and your comments suggest that you have, then maybe you should read it, and particularly note the comments he makes regarding the making of the Jambiya "set". Steve does currently, and has in the past, travelled extensivly in Yemen and has many contacts there, and I believe that he knows what he is talking about.

Yemeni, Omani and Saudi items tend to have slightly different decoration scheme at the throat then the rest of the scabbard. Just because the throat is different then the rest doesnt say much about the age or replacement.

Also the assessment about the blade is... so made up its not even funny. There is nothing that suggests the blade to be of poor quality or 'not fit for the scabbard'

Agree on the hilt though.

Salaams A.alnakkas ~ On the subject of the top rectangle~Its not so important a point really since the very interesting detail is in the craftsmanship of the various silver plates in general. Looking closely however at the wear on the top section it seems to be far older than the remainder... Im not denegrating it in any way because of that.. I am reverse engineering what I believe to be a project piece put together from spare parts albeit rather nice in places and having described the mental process a local buyer goes through when examining a potential purchase. Even if you think the blade is original (I don't neither does Khanjar ! see #1 Quote"The blade is nothing out of the ordinary" Unquote..) there is a question over the hilt as you have agreed and further I suggest that the gold floral buttons are recent and done deliberately to match the floral decor in the scabbard. I simply reverse engineered that thus the entire hilt comes into question as per my previous post suggesting it is a 6 part restoration project.
I stick to my revue on that score but that should not deflect the thread which I believe can go on to discus Jewish-Yemeni craftsmanship in some depth.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams kahnjar1 ~ Your opener is odd since certainly I show the ancient battle swords and Khanjars old and new..perhaps your computer screen is affected by the light... or needs adjusting :shrug: We do a lot of new work that is true but that is the subtle difference in understanding old and new ethnographic arms. Oddly the ancient techniques are ongoing and whereas a local buyer will purchase antique and old work there is a huge demand for brand new pieces. I don't think my pictures divulge any loss in originality though it is also true that clients want clean Khanjars. After all, it only takes a very short time for the khanjars to develop patina since the silver oxidises very fast. Etho arms collectors internationally want patina but here, "where the metal meets the meat"... they don't.

Studying this item is a good way to absorb a lot of the specialist techniques in the earlier Jewish dominated silver crafts of Yemen. This isn't a competition nor is it a show of whos got the nicest lollipop :) but whilst forum members are absolutely within their rights to sensationalise with comments like wow, oooh, super, lovely and I wish I had one, other more serious comments must be expected which can sometimes lead to a heated, debated, discussion. In that way often fresh facts pop out or the thread ploughs forth into unknown but fascinating territory. The end result is a forum winner. A team effort.

I dont have the book by Steve Gracie but I'm getting it.

All my knowledge comes from hands on and common sense... plus a certain amount of web work and reading our forum library. Because of the influence on Omani ethnographics it is vital for me to get on top of the Yemeni subject.

Incidentally ~ There are two books that I may have reccommended to forum that I regret to report should be struck off viz;

1.Ethnic Jewellery edited by John Mack published for the trustees of the British Museum ( at the time of publication he was Keeper at the Museum of Mankind(department of Ethnography) , The British Museum. The book comprises 207 pages of work with a special chapter devoted to The Middle East.

2.Arab and Islamic Silver by Dr. Saad al Jadir. 216 pages with a vast 37 page section devoted to Oman and Yemen.

Neither book mentions Jewish Silver Craftsmanship; neither in the sections devoted to Yemen nor in the sections on adjoining countries... It is like they never existed. Nothing exists in the index or in the body of the books. The books must have been proof read by an ethnographic elimination panel. They are washed clean of any mention of Jewish Craftsmanship in all respects... I was shocked. I threw them away.

Therefor I look forward to getting a decent book on the subject.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

I guess the "hands-on" source of info is tremendously important. When local contemporary masters who are actively involved in restoration of old weapons and manufacture of new ones tell me that they can see signs of renovation and of recent assembly, I tend to take their opinion seriously.
There is nothing personal here. That's what this Forum is for. If we want to hold our collections in unqualified esteem, we should not show them to strangers and ask for input. We may have our balloons popped. Some of mine certainly were :-)
With best wishes to all.

I totally agree that "hands on" experience is the best way to judge. Most of the "comments" here are coming from a position (in his own words) of lack of knowledge of Yemeni items. I have absolutely no doubt that Ibrahiims knowledge of OMANI items is vaste, but we are not talking Omani.
Please don't get me wrong, as if I was not seeking comment (good and bad) I would not have posted this Jambiya here. I have however total confidence in Steve Gracie, who would have one of the best collections of Yemeni items outside Yemen. He is also well travelled in that area, and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
This Jambiya has "been around" but is NOT as Ibrahiim seems to think a "put together piece". We will leave that description for those who manufacture replicas.

I might have missed something: are you saying that Mr. Gracie personally examined this jambiya? If so, I would value his opinion very much.. Having said that, I also know that even the best specialists in any particular area often disagree. One chooses which expert to believe :-)

Salaams Khanjar 1 and Ariel.
Well its not a replica. But its also not what you say it is at #1; A Bawsani Thouma. Its probably got a bit of Bawsani on it..I mean its like an airy room. Its got "some" air in it.

This project Thuma is floated in as a Bawsani under the banner A Bawsani Thouma. Personally I think there is more than one Jewish craftsmans silver platework here but its not all originally from one workshop( there may be as many as 6 Jewish silver plates/items involved and I can see the workshop program that has assembled it. Im not saying that is bad... I'm saying that assuming it to be a Bawsani Thuma is a big stretch. On that note you may wish to re work your #1 description to realign your assumptions; I see nothing wrong with that.

I spend a lot of time redoing past theories when I realise something is not quite right. Bawsani work on a Yemeni Thouma may be a reasonable place to start re aligning the thread no? That way it opens the door to a rich potential development based on Jewish-Yemeni craftsmanship.

It is unlikely, however, the scabbard and silver belt parts may be Bawsani and/or a closely related workshop but from different periods ~ You could further argue that there is as much as about 50 years difference in the age on the throat rectangle compared to the other pieces and I would go along with that. That alone makes it worth studying.

As I said before it would be worth looking to see if there are stamps on the other plates. That at least leaves the door open for further discussion regarding what you may have to hand.

I suspect a slight change in the name be investigated as Bawsani and if Dom can please look at that on the stamp. The web reference for this family stamp is http://www.arabiafelixjewels.com/tag...ewish-filigree and they worked at the House of Baws or Beit Baws. The beads are also called Bawsani. See also Garner, R. 2003 The maker's mark in Yemeni jewelry. Ornament 26 (4): 38-41. under Notes at the end of this post. :shrug:

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Notes to Library; The following is by Anisa Naon and is a bit of background on Yemeni work so that already we begin to roll out this thread to where I believe it ought to be going... along a rich road of discovery on the subject of Yemeni and Jewish-Yemeni silver craftsmanship ~ This document is as is uncorrected for prose and grammar (but the last few lines are outlined in bold by me.) There is, however, great beauty in her use of words viz;

Quote" The Ethnic Use of Silver Jewellery in Yemen
The Ethnic Use of Silver Jewellery in Yemen
By Anisa Naon.

The use of Jewellery has always been very extended in the Yemeni society, and it's an interesting fact, that Jews and Muslims wore different pieces of jewellery. There was a big difference in the use of traditional jewels, from one area of the country to other areas, what was worn and when was clearly defined in each place.
The ambar beads were mostly used by Sanaani Muslim women, but in rural areas was also worn by Jewish girls.
Rural areas presented less differences than big cities like Sana'a. The city life for Jews was more interior and had less contact with the Muslim population.
Most of the jewelers were Jewish themselves and they used to work lots of hours in minimum details to generate that beauties made of fine filigree.
The fact that the costume for Jewish and for Muslim women was different, shows another reason for the different jewels worn. Muslim women used to wear headscarves, and Jewish women wore a complement called gargush, that looks like a hood. The jewellery needed by Muslim women was mostly to keep the scarves together.The Jewish jewels were pieces to add to the hood, like filigree gold, silver brooches,coins like the Maria Theresia Thaler, and several dangling beads. Some of the pendants on the gargush had the shape of daylife things like the grains of wheat or barley, used to make everyday bread. The shapes representing the fertility of the nature give a symbolic meaning to the costume and jewellery.
Other interesting aspect in the relations between Muslim and Jewish in Yemen was the fact that for some specific occasions, it was important to wear jewels made by "the other" meaning who is not us, our community or made by a foreigner. Those jewels were supposed to possess a special blessing (baraka). The dugags of spheric beads where normally used by Muslim women daily, but Jewish women used to wear them specially on the wedding day. Jewish children also use to wear spheric dugags for extra protection. The special care for women and children comes from the exposure to many pregnancies without medical care and the natural vulnerability of the children.
Jewish silversmiths used to have Muslim and Jewish customers, they also used to work for the royal Muslims, working specially with gold instead of the usual silver. These jewelers also worked doing decoration for the daggers worn by Muslims but not by the Jewish men. This decoration includes some parts of the dagger like amulets and other accessories used with the belt and the djambia
It´s an interesting point that some of the jewelers were rabbis, they used to study the sacred texts and also dedicate their life to silversmithing. What i find very interesting is that, as they were students of the Kabalah and the Bible, they knew the symbolic meaning if the designs, their amuletic connotations and their connection to the Kabalistic texts. The fine techniques used in the creation of Yemeni jewellery was passed generation after generation as family secrets. During the last Imam rule of Yemen, some Jewish silvermiths were called to teach their knowledge to Muslim jewelers, as most of the Jewish community was leaving the country to go to The Holy Land. Nowadays there are some newly Jewish style jewels, but the original antique ones show the finest techniques, like the Bedihi granulation and the finest examples of Bawsani filigree". Unquote

Further reading:
Colyer Ross, H. 1978 Bedouin Jewelry in Saudi Arabia. London, Stacey International:

Garner, R. 2003 The maker's mark in Yemeni jewelry. Ornament 26 (4): 38-41.

Jenkins, M. and M. Keene 1982 Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Muchawsky-Schnapper, E. 2000 The Yemenites: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Culture. Jerusalem,The Israel Museum:

Excelent & very true comment Ariel.

A fascinating thread indeed.

I dont know if it helps but heres a fewsnippets to add to the pot.

First a couple of silver marks...

I wonder if they are of relevance here I suspect they are?

Secondly. In "cult of the Jambiya" by Schuyler V.R. Camman {1977}

Schuler states several intersting things re. the Yemeni jambiya inc....

Spiral

Pics arranged as decided by forum software!

Salaams all~ Nice reference by Spiral. Heres the full story on that ~ see
http://www.penn.museum/documents/pub...-2/Cammann.pdf

~and the biography of this amazing man (Schuyler V.R. Camman) which can be seen on interesting jambiya on eBay by Lew at #40. The stamps shown by Spiral are very significant as one is identical to the mark at #1 of this thread. :) I am sure that Dom will be all over these stamps fairly immediately !

I wonder if anyone has the stamp record I showed previously as Garner, R. 2003 The maker's mark in Yemeni jewelry. Ornament 26 (4): 38-41.

The Cammann visit was sometime ago... 1977 therefor I expect documentary proof in work written since then to be further enhanced and look forward to getting Steven Gracies book.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams Spiral ~ Did you get a reference for those 2 stamps? One is is identical to the stamp on the subject item at #1 but the other I dont know. I also see stamps on Recent Jambiya and a new Khanjar by archer. I feel certain that in time we will blow the lid off the subject of Yemeni stamps once that book reference is tracked down Garner, R. 2003 The maker's mark in Yemeni jewelry. Ornament 26 (4): 38-41.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salams Ibrahiim,

I am awaiting translation to see whether the first mark is relevent, it on a piece of jewelry possibly from the family concerned?

From the works I have read. I understand Bawsani is often used for work done in the Bawsani style in Saana. Which could cause problems with research there on occasion I imagine.


The identicle mark I hoped would offer more info as it seems clearer to me?

It is from a Jambiya currently up for sale on the net. Its very good & I am sure old work.

The magazine your after can be ordered from there website.

http://www.ornamentmagazine.com/stor...ilter_tag=26.4

Spiral

Salaams Spiral I see it now ya...Shukran~ There is another stamp at http://www.arabiafelixjewels.com/ant...-necklace.html
on a pendant....
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

aleikum salam
Ibrahiim ... you wrote immediately :D ;) :D
but it's without to take in your account, the difficulty of reading ...
even, after headache, a name (?) didn't found a translation ... :shrug:
now here our statement;

- the stamp recorded on pic as n°1 is the same origin than already translated
AARON BEN CHAMAT his Jewish root is without doubt

- the stamp recorded on pic as n°2 is different and is without contest from an Muslim workshop,
is consisting of names, but one hasn't be translated (?)
in the sens of reading;
- in "yellow" ... HUSSEIN
- in "white" ... (?)
- in "green" ... MOHLESS
- in "red" ... SAYED

colors aren't for puerile beautification ... :p
it's just to justify to the Arabic readers, our understanding,
and to give them a chance to correct if necessary :D

sorry, if that has been a bit long ... but really not easy ;)

à +

Dom