Author
Unknown
Publication Date
1850
Publication Place
Saudi Arabia (made) Yemen (made) -
Subject
Jewellery Metalwork
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
Length: 33cm, Width: 7.5cm
Library
Victoria and Albert Museum
Library Asset ID
M.106-1909
Record ID
M.106-1909
Library Location
Middle East Section
Date
1850
Notes
This necklace was described as Arabian when it was acquired by the Museum in 1909. It was probably made by Jewish silversmiths in the Yemen. The hollow quatrefoil and heart-shaped beads, decorated with imitation turquoise and applied filigree, are found in other Yemeni work of the 19th century, although their use seems to have died out by the 20th. The necklace is narrower and less elaborate than other traditional chokers, which often hang far down the breast, and it may have lost part of its original form.
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Sheet silver decorated with applied filigree and turquoise pastes Silver Turquoise Paste Filigree
Fiziksel açıklama
Necklace of silver beads. The beads are hollow spheres arranged in two tiers, with spacers at regular intervals to hold them apart. The top tier has three beads between each spacer; one plain silver bead, with a slightly smaller bead on each side of it. The lower tier has four small beads between each spacer. The spacer beads are flat hollow quatrefoils, with a tube, made from coiled wire, at the top and bottom, through which the thread runs. Each quatrefoil is decorated front and back with applied filigree motifs, and on the front only with a small piece of opaque turquoise glass in the centre. The beads are all strung on natural cotton. At each end, the two strands of cotton are gathered into a hollow triangular terminal bead, decorated on the front with applied twisted wire, discs and granules. There is a short length of figure-of-eight chain attached to the cotton strands at each end, one of which has a hook at the end, which forms the fastening. The lower loop of each spacer bead has a ring attached, from which hangs a single flexible pendant, consisting of a heart decorated with applied filigree and set with a turquoise paste, which matches the quatrefoils, a strip of coiled wire and a terminal bead with applied filigree decoration.
