Silver & Frankincense: Personal Adornment and Scent in the Arab World

Sigrid van Roode, a jewelry historian specializing in traditional jewelry from the Middle East and North Africa, gave an online presentation on 2 December, discussing her new book, Silver & Frankincense: Personal Adornment and Scent in the Arab World. Her research addresses jewelry as material culture of society and focuses in particular on the relation between jewelry and ritual, magic and religion.

Ms. van Roode discussed the significance of scent in Oman and the Arab world, and the multiple utilities and combinations of Oud, frankincense, rose, jasmine and others. The centrality of good scents in daily life, she argued, is that they drive out evil spirits, while bad scents can indicate the presence of evil or decay. Her discussion also addressed how scents are used in milestone occasions including marriage, childbirth, death, as well as in daily life. Van Roode gave examples from her personal collection of silver amulets and jewelry to explain how pieces were constructed to incorporate space to carry scents.

Ms. van Roode is the author of several books, including Desert Silver, widely acclaimed as one of the most accessible introductions to jewelry from the Arab world.

The book can be purchased here:

https://en.blikvelduitgevers.nl/product-page/pre-order-silver-frankincense-scent-and-personal-adornment-in-the-arab-world