Turkoman jewellery is one of the most distinctive and easily recognisable styles of traditional jewellery. It was worn by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia, in the present region of Turkmenistan and parts of northern Iran and Afghanistan. Although individual pieces rarely date from any earlier than the 19th century, many of the designs and symbols used are much older, often pre-Islamic in origin.

Different tribes preferred different techniques and styles of decoration. These penannular bracelets, decorated with sinuous patterns picked out with fire-gilding and set with flat cornelians, are typical of the jewellery worn by the Teke. Although they appear solid they are in fact made of thin sheets of silver filled with a kind of mastic or resin. They were traditionally always worn in pairs, one on each arm. The word bilezik simply means a ring for the wrist – the points on each end are colloquially known as snake’s heads.

They were acquired in Turkestan in 1884-5, during an Anglo-Russian conference to define the north-west frontier of Afghanistan, and were given to the Museum in 1900.