The Traditional Jewelry of Egypt

For many women of Egypt, their jewelry is their bank-they wear their wealth in their gold.But jewelry in Egypt is also more than mere assets, and its design and manufacture reveal a great array of styles and a high degree of skill and artistry.In this lavishly illustrated book, Azza Fahmy, herself a world-renowned designer of jewelry based on traditional motifs, lays before us an Aladdin's cave of jewelry made in all corners of Egypt over the last one hundred years, collected through her extensive travels throughout the country.From the farms and villages of the Nile Valley and Delta, from the oases of the Western Desert and the mountains and wadis of Sinai and the Eastern Desert, from Nubia in the south, and from the crowded traditional neighborhoods of Cairo is displayed a cornucopia of gold and silver adornment-each area with its own distinctive favored style.Personal seals have been widely employed, and there is even jewelry for special occasions, such as the appeasement of maligna