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Alarife

@alarife.bsky.social
20 followers 3 following 100 posts

Interested in art, architecture and history, with a focus on North Africa and Iberia, aiming to shed light on lesser-known facts.

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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If we accept, on etymological grounds, that the wrap is of Andalusi origin, we may conjecture that its distinctive red-and-yellow color scheme is a legacy of the silk textiles of late medieval al-Andalus, particularly given that the qardun was once made of silk.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It seems that the Algerian word qardūn, meaning a hair band used to wrap a ponytail, is of Andalusi origin. @lameensouag.bsky.social
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
@lameensouag.bsky.social Someone on Algeria's subreddit is asking about Korandje. Maybe you could answer some their questions.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Every time I read a post on your blog, I get a smile, not least because they’re enjoyable to read, but also because it makes me happy that the blog I first came across 12 years ago is still active!
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I came across it two decades ago being used among old women in Tenes IIRC. They used it to mean "for-what [purpose]?" Unfortunately, there is a great deal of linguistic diversity in this country that is rapidly disappearing due to linguistic leveling and has yet to be documented through fieldwork.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
@lameensouag.bsky.social
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Algerian word: يَتْشَنقْ /jatʃanəg/ In the west of the country, it means “to complain, to wine," and the east (Constantine) it is "to procrastinate; to drag one's feet.” Apparently, it is from Andalusi Arabic.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Until the early 00s, people in the Ouarsenis region used to celebrate it by lighting bonfires and jumping over them to purify themselves of the evil spirits. They also used to rub ash from the bonfire on the faces and forearms of children as a blessing. Unfortunately, it is no longer practiced.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
It is interesting that “hook-shaped” curled sidelocks survived in the city of Tlemcen (western Algeria) until the early years of the 20th century, likely introduced by Andalusi refugees during the medieval period. A Jewish woman from Tlemcen, c. 1890. [4/4]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Based on surviving representations, the style appears to have lasted until at least the 13th century; for example, it is visible in the illustrations of Hadith Bayad wa Riyad, dated to the first half of that century. [3/4]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Below is a poem composed by the Umayyad prince and poet Marwān al-Ṭalīq (d. 1011), which attests to this style on line #5: “[Shining hair] peeked out from her temples, drawing a *lām* [letter] on her pale cheek, like pure gold on a sheet of paper.” [2/4]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
A bowl from the early 11th century, produced in Cordoba, depicting a woman sitting on a mattress while drinking. She has kohl—a type of powder eyeliner—on, and we see on her cheek a curled sidelock a hairstyle of Abbasid origins. 🧵 [1/4]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Another feature visible in the Cantigas miniature is the presence of red circles on the cheeks, a type of makeup also attested in other forms in 12th- and 13th-century Muslim Iberia, but which appears to have fallen out of fashion in Iberia by the 14th c., while surviving in NA to the present day.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
The women share the conical cap (šāšiya in Tlemcen; qalansuwa in medieval sources), the head and chin wrap (mḳīnqa), and the head chain with hanging gold coins (ʕaṣṣāba di-s-sulṭānī). Two types of the šāšiya are pictured below.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Left: A miniature of a female Mudéjar (Muslim under Christian rule) pipe and tambour player from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (c. 1270). Right: A Muslim woman from Tlemcen, western Algeria (c. 1890).
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The painting of the inscription and the use of modern cement to create a base appear to have been undertaken to improve the obelisk’s presentation and readability for visitors. Unfortunately, these interventions are difficult to reverse without damaging the stone.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
No, it’s not mine, but it was taken within the last two weeks, so it’s quite recent.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Here's a recent picture from the Chemtou Museum with the top part of the obelisk in question.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
بخاطري fits much better in the context. As for من لسانكم, I initially read it that way, but I guess it was actually the correct reading. The rest were just typos on my part. بشكاش is a borrowing from the Persian پیشکش pīškash “gift,” probably through Ottoman Turkish. Via Ben Cheneb:
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
@lameensouag.bsky.social
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Transcription and translation below are mine. 2/2 The use of فاين and التخربيط is interesting, as they are more typically associated with western Algerian dialects.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
A letter written in the Algerian dialect dated to 1803 from Mustapha Pasha (r. 1798-1805) to the United States during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. 1/2
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
There was a belief in North Africa that ancient ruins held treasures, a belief that still persists to the present day in rural communities. Indeed, during the 16th century, there was an attempt sponsored by the then-Beylerbey to search for possible treasures at the site.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
While this may be true for the eastern Maghreb, the Arabization of areas west of Bejaia before the 12th century occurred largely through contact and migration from Muslim Iberia rather than from the east since the region had been lost relatively early after the Berber Revolt of 740.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
For Fez, the Andalusi component was present from the early days as the city was established during the 790s and first Andalusi refugees came to the city in 818.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
While the elite probably spoke an Andalusi-derived dialect, i think the city was not fully Arabized before the 16th century, remaining predominantly Berber-speaking and later adopting a Hilalian dialect thanks to repopulation by a then Arabized rural pop. during the Saʿdi and ʿAlawite periods.[2/2]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The urban features might be due to influence of Fez' prestige dialect rather than an urban substratum. During the medieval period, the city was almost completely populated by Berbers. The settlement of Arabic speakers was limited to few Andalusi intellectuals and craftsmen in the 12th century.[1/2]
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Growing up we were told never to eat dairy with fish or it would cause vitiligo. I used to think it came from Jewish dietary rules, but it is probably based on Galenic humoralism like many North African traditional dietary beliefs.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
The Spanish terms n° 1 and 4 are borrowed from Arabic while n° 2, 3 and 5 seems to be calques. These similarities between the two traditions are likely the result of Andalusi Arabic influences (there are few other examples like these).
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
From Spanish treatise by López de Arenas (17th c.): Candillijo "little oil lamp" Zafate harpado "harpoon-shaped Safat" Almendrilla "little almond" Zafate "tray" Calle "alleyway" Moroccan names for the same shapes: Qandīl "oil lamp" Ṣfeṭ l-Ḥarba "spear-shaped Sfet" Lūza "almond" Ṣfeṭ Zqāq "alleyway"
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
The broken horseshoe arch, the decorative motifs, the Hafsid-style capitals (pic 3), and the Andalusi ones (pic 4) in addition to portal's style were otherwise of local tradition.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Mīḍaʔat As-Sulṭān "the Sultan's ablution pavilion" in Tunis b. in 1450 to serve the believers in their washing ritual before prayers. The monument’s marble paneling and two-tone decoration reflect Egyptian influences, which had already begun to spread into the Eastern Maghreb by the late 14th c.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
The artists' use of color, in this case to amplify certain traits, was a way to visually communicate their identity as Granadan Muslims. In another scene, men dressed in the Castilian fashion, with some of them turbaned, were shown with varying skin tones to distinguish them from the Old Christians.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
This contrasts with their N. African counterparts, who until more recent times wore a similar veil, usually in white or beige. Indeed, visual and written sources indicate that although Granadan women did use a range of colors for their veils, white remained the most common. Pic: Tangier, c. 1880.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
A low-relief carving from the altarpiece of the Royal Chapel of Granada, finished in 1522, depicts the baptism of Granadan women c. 1499–1501. The women are wearing veils (Melḥafa) in white, red, pink, green, purple, and light brown, all edged with a golden border.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
This peculiarity is also attested in other non-poetic inscriptions of the period. But what's so "incomparable" about this fountain exactly? Well, it *was* the ceramic decoration with its vivid colors, that was almost exclusively found in wealthy estates or royally sponsored projects in the 14th C.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Aside from the word al-Muʔaṯṯal, the hamza (ء) representing the glottal stop is omitted throughout the text, and in al-Badāyiʕ, it is replaced with a y- (ي) for the palatal approximant. These dialectal features were introduced in an otherwise classical poem to improve its readability to the masses.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
The meter is off in the third couplet (lines 5 and 6 in the trans.). On the left side, green tiles with a different script from the original dark ones indicate repairs that likely replaced fallen parts and completed the missing text. However, these repairs only recovered the rhyme of this couplet.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
The poem consists of three couplets. The first half is written in the first-person singular, presenting the fountain as the speaker. This poetry style, where objects or buildings "speak" through inscription, was common in the western parts of the Maghreb between the 13th and 16th centuries.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
A fountain in the Chrabliyine district from the second quarter of the 14th C. in Fez, Morocco. Above it, an inscription of a poem, written on tiles using the sgraffito technique, where parts of the glazed surface are scratched away to create a two-tone design.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
According to 13th-century historian Ibn Idhari, in 965 CE the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas sent a mosaic craftsman and about 1,600 kg of tesserae to Caliph al-Ḥakam II, who wanted to replicate in Córdoba what his ancestors had done in the Mosque of Damascus (pictured below).
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Byzantine glass mosaic above the 10th century mihrab (a niche indicating the direction of prayer) of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, now a cathedral. It is interesting that such a visually striking decoration was never reemployed in any other monument in Iberia or in North Africa.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
This poem, composed by the diplomat and advisor 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn al-Arqam (d. before 1091 CE), describes a green banner with a white band that was raised above the king of Almeria, al-Mu'tasim Ibn Sumadih (r. 1051-1091 CE). The poem is one of the oldest written descriptions of a European flag.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
A wing of bliss was spread over you, A green [banner] that turned the morning [light] into a sash; It flutters like the beating heart of whoever opposes you, Striking the souls whichever way it unfurls; Assuring you fortune with a triumphant bearing, So look forth to the preeminent omen of success.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
By themselves, these details would be anomalies, but together they strongly suggest a forgery. Whoever made these doors was unfamiliar with Nasrid art and probably relied on ornament books to mimic the aesthetic. The boors were sold for £223,750 (£414,820 today, adjusted for inflation).
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
The spacing between the two bands is wider than expected, going against convention. The bands are also meant to continue crisscrossing, even at the edges. A closer inspection would almost certainly reveal additional details such as types of nails, pigments, assembly joints, wood types, etc.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
The top parts don’t seem to have been truncated but rather created as they are now. Additionally, the pattern used in this piece, to my knowledge, was never used by carpenters. Even in other trades, it was short-lived in Nasrid artistic repertoire, appearing only in the last quarter of the 13th c.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
The spacing between the two bands is wider than expected, going against convention. The bands are also meant to continue crisscrossing, even at the edges. A closer inspection would almost certainly reveal additional details such as types of nails, pigments, assembly joints, wood types, etc.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Iberian and N. African carpenters cut notches on both sides of wooden bands, allowing other bands to be inserted into them, forming a double-grooved frame around the geometric shapes (pics). The technique was universally used during the period for this type of decoration, but not here.
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Alarife @alarife.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
In 2000, Christie's auction house sold two truncated wooden doors, alleged to be Nasrid-made from the 14th century. Despite the low-quality picture, the inconsistencies make me confident these doors are forgeries, possibly made during the 19th century.
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