Hello everyone,

Here is my take on writing a life story for an object. Looking forward for your feed back. I could not figure out how to upload the picture of the object, though.

The Life History of a Bracelet

I came into being at the gifted and experienced hands of an Egyptian craftsman in Ottoman Cairo about five centuries ago. My essential materials are glass and gold. This should come as no surprise as I was made in Egypt which has thousands of years of glass production experience and a skilled craftsmanship of gold processing. The glass pieces used for decorating me were used as glass weights in early Islamic times and then the level of symmetrical skillfulness in the glass material led my craftsman, being the practical and creative men he was, to think that I would look beautiful as jewelry if gold, a still very precious metal, were to be added. And he was right as I was used for centuries until I ended up in one the display shelves of Pera Museum.

I was crafted for Ottoman nobility in the palace. Glass weights were of commonality at the Early Islamic stage of Egypt. However, gold as it is now was very expensive to acquire and only certain people could afford it. Add decorative processing of gold around the glass weights as well as the chain that holds the weights together to this, there is no wonder in the fact that I was made for Ottoman royalty. Considering my relatively large size, I was made for showing myself to public and to be a medium to show off wealth and class.

I was used by the Ottoman palace women for centuries since I was made. I was changed hands as the women in palace change places in and out of the palace. However, I had always been a part of harem treasure until I became a possession of Neslişah Sultan at the beginning of the 20^th century who was one of the last princesses of the empire that was about to fade away. After I became her personal item, I was added to her personal collection which consisted of memories of a now-gone grand empire and reminded of her home during her years of exile. I became a part of the remnants of her home which once ruled in three continents. The fact that I was made in Egypt which was under Ottoman rule for five centuries was a strong indication of that. Given the trend changes of the time and the possibility that I reminded Neslişah Sultan of “good old days”, I was rarely used in the 20^th century.

Eventually, I was donated to Pera Museum in İstanbul, the hearth of Ottoman spirit in 2005. My continent-covering journey ended up in a shelf displaying ancient weights. Now I am being displayed as a different use for Islamic glass weights right under Ottoman measuring containers and right next to a steelyard weight from Roman period.