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Brooch
Unknown - Enlarge image
Brooch
- Place of origin:
Algeria (made)
- Date:
1800-1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Silver decorated with enamelled filigree and set with corals
- Museum number:
488-1865
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This is an example of a thebiximin worn by Kabyle mothers during the first half of the nineteenth century. It would have been worn as a brooch if the child was a girl and on the forehead if the child was a boy. The Kabyle are a Berber people from North Eastern Algeria. The circular "brooch" is made of silver, decorated with brightly coloured enamelled filigree and set with corals. Coral was believed to contain baraka (good luck) and to protect children and communities from evil.
This brooch was probably made by a Jewish silversmith as the Berbers thought working with metal was an inferior occupation. The filigree technique used here was introduced to North Africa in the late fifteenth century by Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Europe. Jewish silversmiths dominated jewellery making in North Africa until the late nineteenth century.
