Leather, silver, coral, shells, glass beads, stone (possibly carnelian)
Dimensions:
L: 137 cm (53 15/16 in.)
Type:
Jewelry
Geography:
Morocco
Mauritania
Date:
Early 20th century
Label Text:
Pre-Sahara women living in the border regions of Morocco and Mauritania wear elaborate hair decorations comprised of long plaited leather tresses embellished with silver, glass bead, shell and carnelian attachments. One distinctive ornament is the khorb, a triangular talismanic pendant with ring usually fashioned of carnelian, colorful glass or a synthetic material. Glass beads may be made locally or imported. Shell discs (called el bot min teffou in Mauritania) provide a bright white contrast to the dark strands of leather. In Mauritania, the most elaborate hair ornaments of this type are worn by women who perform for men a ritual dance of love called the Guedra.
Description:
Multiple leather strands, dark in color, gathered in two sections and ornamented with silver, coral, stone, shell and glass bead attachments. The two groupings of leather strands are decorated in a similar order: a silver alloy ring with rounded protuberance combined with colorful beads; a triangular-shaped pendant ring, possibly of carnelian; a rounded white openwork shell disc below which are suspended colorful beads and an ornate silver alloy pendant; another triangular-shaped pendant ring; and a final cluster of small shell glass beads and silver attachments.
Provenance:
Ivo Grammet, collected in Akka, Morocco, 1985 to 2003
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. 322, no. 534.
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