Women's belt "jakicar" ("arnaut belt") ·  Balkans, Ottoman (North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia) · ID: 3051477

Description

leather, 36 flat carnelians in (gold-plated?) brass settings, clasp and decorative pendant each with a carnelian, 15 brass plates, l: 105 cm x 8.3 cm x 0.9 cm (+ 18 cm inner flap), weight: 1768 g

Complete and exceptionally well-preserved object !

Although it is clearly documented that this extremely heavy and massive belt was an essential part of bridal jewellery, there are still those who derive the “arnaut belt” from the medieval knightly sword / weapon belt. The fact that such belts were used as props by orientalist painters, especially Ludwig Deutsch, and can be found in well-known paintings as weapon belts, has certainly contributed a great deal to this misunderstanding.