Hebron glass

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Hebron glass (Arabic: زجاج الخليل‎) refers to glass produced in Hebron as part of a flourishing art and industry established in the city during Roman rule in Palestine.^[1][2] For centuries, Hebron has been associated with glass production in the same way that Nablus has been associated with soap production. Still produced today by a few Palestinian families who have kept the secrets of the trade among family members who work in the glass factories,^[2] the products made include glass jewellery, such as beads, bracelets, and rings,^[3] stained glass windows and glass lamps, among others.

Contents 1 Production 2 History 3 Jewellery 3.1 Hebron trade beads 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External links

[edit] Production

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Hebron glass was traditionally produced using sand from the village of Bani Naim, east of Hebron, and sodium carbonate taken from the Dead Sea.^[4] Traditionally, the intense colours of Hebron glass included dark and light blue, turquoise, dark red (Bordeaux), and light and dark green and these colours were produced using metal oxides, such as those from iron and copper. Copper oxide is still used today to colour Hebron glass, though today the raw material used instead of sand is primarily recycled glass which is gathered from local houses and brought to the factory to be smashed and then cooked.^[4]

The precise production process is a trade secret maintained among the few Palestinian families who run the factories that continue to produce Hebron glass today.^[2] Glassmaking at Hebron is an art that is based on apprenticeship. The apprentices are trained under a master from childhood and essentially grow up in the factory. Masters generally believe that adults are unsuited to learning the craft of glass production, and one master has said, "You can learn to play the 'oud at any age, but unless you begin [glasswork] as a child, you will never become a master."^[4]

According to the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative Society, the blowing technique employed is the same used by the ancient Phoenicians,^[2] though archaeologists and historians of glass agree that glassblowing was not common until the last few centuries BCE. The craftsman holds a long, thin pipe (80-100 cm) in one hand, and dips it into the boiling glass inside the furnace heated to 700° celsius. After withdrawing the pipe with semi-liquid glass attached, he blows through the pipe, continuing the shaping process using a metal instrument called a kammasha. The pipe is then reentered into the furnace, reblown to further shape the object, and the kammasha is used for final shaping once again. The glass is then set aside into a small chamber next to the furnace where it is cooled.^[4]

[edit] History

The glass industry in Hebron was established during Roman rule (63 BCE-330 CE) in Palestine.^[1] Glass artifacts from Hebron dating to the first and second centuries have been found and are on exhibit as part of the Drake Collection.^[1] Stained glass windows of Hebron glass, dating to the twelfth century, are found in the structure built over the Cave of Machpelah, which served as a church during the Crusader era in Palestine.^[5] Another example of stained glass windows produced in Hebron are those at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.^[2]

While acknowledging that glass production in Palestine dates back to Roman period, Nazmi Ju'beh, director of the RIWAQ: Centre for Architectural Conservation, contends that the practices of today's glass industry in Hebron most probably began in the 13th century CE. He notes that one theory posits that the techniques used today were imported from Venice, while other researchers claim that the Crusaders carried this tradition from Hebron with them to Europe, and that its origins may be Syrian.^[4]

Historical references from the 14th century, indicate that Hebron glass factories flourished at this time with no less than fourteen glass factories of glass, all located in the old city. The industry ended up occupying a distinct quarter in the old city which today still carries the name of Glass-Blower Quarter or Harat al-Zajajeen.^[4]

With such a large number of factories, Hebron glass was exported to Egypt, Syria, and the Transjordan. Camel caravans carried Hebron glass in specially designed wooden boxes that were guarded by both official armies and private guards. Glass merchants in Hebron managed to develop mercantile networks with Karak (Crac) in East Jordan and Cairo in Egypt which further helped market the products. Since at least the 16th century, communities of Hebron expatriates became established in these two cities and a whole social network emerged around the glass industry which became a major employer, contributing greatly to the wealth of factory owners.^[4] Traditionally, the items produced were functional: cups, bottles, bowls, jugs, dishes, olive oil lamps, and later, various forms of petrol lamps. Jewellery and accessories, mainly for Bedouins, were also produced and sold in the Naqab, the Arabian Desert, and the Sinai.^[4]

Well known for its glass production throughout the Arab world, Western travellers to Palestine in the 19th century also wrote of Hebron's glass industry. For example, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen noted during his travels in Palestine in 1808-09 that 150 persons were employed in the glass industry in Hebron,^[6] while later, in A New and Complete History of the Holy Bible as Contained in the Old and New Testaments (1844), Robert Sears writes of Hebron's population of 400 Arab families that, "the inhabitants manufacture glass lamps, which are exported to Egypt. Provisions are abundant, and there is a considerable number of shops."^[7] Later in the century the production declined due to competition from imported European glass-ware, however, the products of Hebron continued to be sold, particularly among the poorer populace, not least of all by travelling Jewish traders from the city.^[8] Even at the World Fair of 1873 in Vienna, Hebron was represented with glass ornaments. A report from the French consul in 1886 suggest that glass-making remained an important source of income for Hebron: Four factories were making 60,000 francs yearly.^[9]

[edit] Jewellery

Glass beads for jewellery have traditionally been made in Hebron. Blue beads, and glass beads with 'eyes' (owayneh), were made and used as amulets since they were considered particularly efficacious against the evil-eye.^[10][4] In the Museum of Mankind collections there are several glass necklaces, made in Hebron during the Mandate period or earlier. Besides necklaces made of blue and green beads and 'eyes' beads, there are examples of beads of small hands, representing the hand of Fatimah, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad.^[11] Most of a woman's jewellery was given to her at marriage; in the early 1920s in Bayt Dajan a glass bracelet (ghwayshat), made in Hebron, would be considered a necessary part of the jewellery of a bride's trousseau.^[12]

The silver and jewellery shop pictured at right, according to Shelagh Weir the author of Palestinian Costumes, shows evil eye beads (as pictured at the top left), and Hebron-made glass bracelets sold alongside this shopkeeper's main ware of silver or metal wire.^[13]

[edit] Hebron trade beads

The English traveller William George Browne mentions in 1799 the production in Hebron of "Coarse glass beads...called Hersh and Munjir", where the Mongur (Munjir) were the large beads, while the Harish (Hersh) were smaller.^[14]

These Hebron glass beads were used as trade beads, (that is, exported to Africa,) from the early to mid 19th century. Spread throughout West Africa, in Kano, Nigeria, they were ground on the edges to make round beads fit together on a strand more comfortably. There, they picked up the name "Kano Beads", although they were not originally produced there. By the 1930s, their value has decreased. In 1937, A. J. Arkell recorded them being sold "for a song" by Sudanese women to Hausa traders in Dafur.^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• Glassblowing in Hebron by Toine Van Teeffelen, 04.06.2006, Palestine-Family.net
• Hebron Glass, gallery, Palestine Today