LARGE**WW1 1916 Turkish / Ottoman Empire Prisoner Of War Hand Made Beaded Snake With Beaded Script ‘Turkish Prisoners 1916’. Sn 22441:11 Antique & Militaria

**LARGE**WW1 1916 Turkish / Ottoman Empire Prisoner Of War Hand Made Beaded Snake With Beaded Script ‘Turkish Prisoners 1916’. Sn 22441:11 - 22441:10

WW1 Turkish / Ottoman Empire prisoners of war made many items whilst in captivity. It kept them occupied and was an avenue for them to earn money to supplement their rations and purchase items they required. Some prisoners even sent them home as gifts for family members or used them to barter with other prisoners. The Australian Memorial's collection of Ottoman prisoner beadwork includes snakes, lizards, bags, bookmarks and jewellery. All were handmade with small glass beads using either beaded crochet method or weaving on small looms. Crochet beaded snakes were the most popular of the beaded souvenirs created in the prisoner of war camps. Nearly half the Memorial's collection of beadwork items is made up of snakes. This is probably for two reasons, firstly a snake is basically a tube, a very easy shape to make with bead crochet. Secondly, snakes were a symbol of good luck in parts of South East Europe, so the prisoner of war snakes could have had a symbolic importance for their makers. The text on the belly usually says ‘TURKISH PRISONER’. However this does not mean that all the prisoners who made the items were ethnically Turkish. The Ottoman Empire stretched from the Balkans to the Sinai. This means that the makers could have been Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, Greek, or Eastern European. This large hand made WW1 Turkish / Ottoman Prisoner Of War Beaded Snake measures a large 7 Feet 6 Inches overall length and is decorated with colourful beads in typical snake skin diamond back design. The belly of the snake has beaded script ‘Turkish Prisoner 1916’. It has the typical Snake’s head with open mouth & forked tongue. There is one old repair in the centre section (illustrated in the images). The price includes UK delivery. Sn 22441:11 (Storeroom bottom shelf near spears)

£375.00