| Original Message: Morfia |
|---|
|
"FAKRONE" is nothing but the (phonetic) corruption of the Arabic word "Verkrun". DHAR VERKRUN - "HOUSE OF THE TURTLE", the word "Dhar" means house - is the local name for certain eyebeads in Mauritania. ============================================================= No matter how often and how long it is repeated, but "MORFIA" beads are NOT a product of al-Fustat glassworks. 1.) The chemical composition of Morfias - as an analysis has proven - points away from a production in Fustat/Egypt, with Syria being a more likely candidate. Though the raw material glasses of both industries are same rich in soda (mineral soda in Egypt vs. plant-ash glass in Syria), but the Egyptian mineral natron glass contains less magnesia, potash and a few minor ingrediences. 2.) Aside of chemistry: It is unlikely that Fustat had been able to invent and create a rather advanced bead like the Morfia. Beads proven to be from old Cairo are rather simplistic in style, design and manufacture. The advanced invention of the MORFIA beads does not fit the general output of Fustat. 3.) The myth (that the MORFIA is an Egyptian invention during Early Islamic times, ca. 700-800) was obviously created by a paper of British Islamist Pinder-Wilson and his American research partner Scanlon, based on a campain in Egypt ca. 50 years ago, when the duo found a few Morfia beads and a single piece of a broken rod, used for the production of the bead. Their find is by no means proof of a Morfia production in al-Fustat, no matter how often Peter Francis jr. (if I am not mistaken) has tried to popularized the vague assumption based on nothing but a few beads and a single piece of a broken rod. All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|