Damascus: Mother-of-Pearl Dealers

Arabic: ṣadafjī

Date: c.1890-1906

The ṣadafjī bought and sold mother-of-pearl. He bought materials from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other localities. It is described as a ‘noble’ (sharīf) craft by the authors of the Dictionary of Damascene Crafts. The ṣadafjī supplied craftsmen, including the Maker Clogs (qabāqibī), the Cabinet Maker (ṣanādiqī).

Citation: al-Qasimi, Muhammad Saʿid, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, and Khalil al-ʿAzm (al-Azem), Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, ed., Zafer al-Qasimi. (Le Monde d’Outre-Mer passé et présent, Deuxième série, Documents III, Paris and Le Haye: Mouton and Co., 1960), p. 270 (chapter 194).
Also discussed in: Milwright, Marcus. “Wood and Woodworking in Late Ottoman Damascus: An Analysis of the Qāmūs al-Ṣināʿāt al-Shāmiyya”, Bulletin d’Etudes Orientales 61 (2012): p. 552.