Throughout the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, from the north Balkans to the Caucasus, large and elaborate waist clasps were the most important item in a woman’s dowry. These clasps come in a small number of basic designs. This one is shaped like stylised tulips, a favourite Ottoman motif. It was worn with the pointed part facing upwards, and was fastened by a pin, which attached the left-hand piece to the rest of the clasp. The three chains, which join the pin to the clasp, hang down decoratively over the front of the clasp when it is fastened.

Cypriot clasps are part of the general Ottoman tradition, but are often more sophisticated and decorative than those from elsewhere. The design of this clasp, where the points on the edge of the two side parts, just below the end, point up, unlike the downward curling projections on the centre part, is a pattern found mainly on Cyprus. Similar tulip-shaped filigree clasps, particularly from the former Yugoslavia, Anatolia and Armenia, usually have the curls on all three parts pointing down. The goldsmiths of Cyprus were famous for their filigree although they rarely marked their work. This clasp is a rare exception as it is marked three times with the tughra, which was the official silver mark of the Ottoman Empire.

This clasp was described as 18th century when it was acquired, and the tughra mark confirms that it was made between 1730 and 1754. It was bought in 1888, just after a terrible famine, when many people had to sell their family heirlooms to survive.