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Harriet Kelsall
29th November 2007 10:56

Turquoise

 

Hi there

I have been doing some research on turquoise for a talk I recently did at our charity open day. The reason that I choose to talk about turquoise is that it is the birthstone for December.

Turquoise has historically been mined as far back as 6000 BC in Egypt. The French called it the name "Pierre Turquois" meaning "Turkish Stone" because Western Europeans thought it had come from Turkey; this was a mistake though because it was actually imported from Persia (now Iran) where they had been mining it since 5000 BC.

Turquoise is usually a rich and intense blue/green, and often has thin veins running through it which are deposits of brown limonite or black manganese oxide.

This stone has always been treasured and highly sought after. One of the oldest piece of jewellery in the world is an Egyptian turquoise and gold bracelet which is one of four bracelets discovered at Abydos in the tomb of King Djer of the First Dynasty. They were fastened onto a linen-wrapped forearm of a woman, who might have been King Djer's queen (Queen Zer) or a member of the royal family. The tomb was unearthed in about 1900 - can you even imagine what it must have been like to walk into that tomb for the first time - let alone to discover those bracelets?

A quote from the excavation reads "The hawk bracelet consists of thirteen gold and fourteen turquoise plaques in the form of the façade with the hawk, which usually encloses the ka name of the king. The gold hawks have been cast in a mould with two faces, and the junction line has been carefully removed and burnished. The gold was worked by chisel and burnishing; no grinding or file marks are visible." If you click on the tomb picture above it will take you to more information written by the excavators which I found completely fascinating - it is like stepping back in time.

The bracelets were held in place by linen bandages, which made it possible to recover them in their original order of stringing and there are some good pictures of them below. If you click on the link you will be taken to a good educational site which tells you more about Egypt which I found very interesting.

Turquoise is still used commonly today, and can be found in China, India, Iran, Afghanistan, and in parts of South America and the USA. Turquoise is one of the traditional and modern birthstones for December.

The Traditional Metaphysical Properties for turquoise are said to be open communication, protection against diseases, regeneration, and strengthening. The healing properties of the December birthstone are reputed to be effective for health problems relating to the throat, lungs, asthma, teeth, depression. and general infection. The Turquoise is also used to enhance creativity, serenity and spiritual bonding.

As it is the December stone, many believe that wearing turquoise in December enhances these properties - so perhaps it can also make the perfect Christmas present. It certainly is a lovely intense colour and perfect for brightening up the grey weather.

See you soon

PS - Many thanks to Dr. Neal Spencer, Assistant Keeper (Curator, Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, British Museum Egyptian department who helped me find the picture of the bracelets above which are in Cairo museum. And of course if the information has whetted your appetite about all things Egyptian you MUST go to the new exhibition at the British Museum (although these bracelets apparently aren't there though). I haven't been yet but there is a review of the exhibition here and some other good ones on their blog here: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/11/tutankhamuns_treasures_are_wel.html. I for one will certainly be buying a ticket. I well remember the wonderful mask back in the 70s when my mum took me to the museum in my pushchair - and although it won't be there this time, the rest of the artifacts will make the visit very worthwhile I am sure. I think that attending that exhibition at an early age is one of the main reasons that I became so passionate about jewellery design and historical influences in jewellery design.

Also there is a very good collection of Egyptian jewellery at the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge by the way: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk and www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pharos

Harriet Kelsall
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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