Hollow hinged silver bracelet with open filigree decoration and lozenges and rosettes of granules, Yemen, 1850-1899.

Two-part silver bracelet with filigree decoration. Each part consists of a stiff hollow segment, flat on the inside and curved on the front (giving it a D-shaped section), and shaped like half a circle. The outside face of each part is made of tightly-worked open filigree, decorated with applied lozenges and rosettes of granules. There is a band of beaded and twisted wire along each rim. The two parts are the same size, and are hinged together at one end, with tubes made of coiled wire. At the other end there is a similar screw fastening. The screw is made from a rod of silver, with a wire wound round it anti-clockwise to form the thread, so that the screw unfastens by turning it to the right. There is a motif attached over the front of the fastening, formed from seven cells which may originally have held gems. There is a small pyramid of granules at each end of the screw fastening.

In the 19th century, until their final exodus to Israel in the 1950s, Jewish goldsmiths made most of the silver jewellery in the Yemen. They were particularly renowned for the quality of their filigree work, which was worn and appreciated as much by Muslim as by Jewish women.

This bracelet is an example of one of the most expensive and popular types, called shumaylat. It would originally have been part of a pair, one worn on each arm. Bracelets like these often formed part of the dowry of Jewish women, and were a compulsory part of the wedding finery.

M.365-1910