H x W x D: 41.4 x 32.5 x 5.4 cm (16 5/16 x 12 13/16 x 2 1/8 in.)
Type:
Jewelry
Geography:
Western Anti-Atlas region, Morocco
Date:
Early 20th century
Label Text:
Among the Imazighen or Muslim Berber peoples of Morocco, weddings are characterized by the wearing of an impressive array of silver jewelry. While gold jewelry is becoming increasingly popular, and Muslim women often sell their silver jewelry in order to afford it, wedding traditions still call for wearing silver. Indeed, a bride may borrow silver jewelry from family and friends to ensure an impressive display at her ceremony. In the western Anti-Atlas region of southern Morocco, the bride's head is often embellished with a decorative silver diadem (taounza) ornamented with enamel designs and a complex arrangement of silver chains and hooked pendants that attach to the head and hang down on either side of the head. Pieces of colored glass in raised settings provide added visual interest. Silver is a preferred material in many regions of Morocco where it symbolizes honesty and purity.
Muslim populations in many regions of Morocco have long been called Berbers, but there is a recent and growing movement in the nation to use the term Imazighen, which means the free people. This style of headdress is worn by the Muslim Ida ou Semlal peoples of the western Anti-Atlas region. The workmanship is characteristic of Jewish artisans who created works for Jewish and Muslim clients alike. The Jewish presence in Morocco dates to the latter part of the first millennium C.E. and was firmly established by the 11th century when the Almoravids, Muslims from northern Africa, conquered lands as far as southern Spain in their spread of Islam. In southern Spain, Jewish goldsmiths were especially well known for their enamel and niello work, as well as filigree and gilding--techniques they brought with them to Morocco during centuries of interaction. In the 16th century, population pressures led Jewish artisans to move to the interior and south to the Anti-Atlas region of Morocco. Today, as in the past, Jewish goldsmiths produce works for themselves and for their Muslim neighbors with whom they have lived for generations.
Description:
Decorative forehead band of engraved linear and curvilinear patterns ornamented at the center with a red glass stone in a rectangular setting. A decorative fringe is suspended below the band. It is composed of a central cross-shaped pendant with a red glass stone center flanked on each side by four coin pendants. Silver chains, attached to the band, lead out to the left, center and right, each chain joining a silver hoop to which are affixed floral-shaped attachments with colored glass centers (two red, one green) and delicate hooked ends. Suspended on either side of the band are chains that lead to a diamond-shaped pendant with a round red glass center. These lead, in turn, to two suspended chains with silver cone-shaped ornaments that terminate in coin pendants.
Provenance:
Ivo Grammet, Morocco, ca. 1987-1988 to 2002
Exhibition History:
Splendeurs du Maroc, Musée royal de l'afrique centrale, Tervuren, Belgium, 1998-1999
Published References:
Musée royal de l'afrique centrale. 1998. Splendeurs du Maroc. Paris: Editions Plume, p. 247.
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