Four-strand necklace (lazem) of silver tut beads with pendants and triangular terminal beads, Yemen, 1850-1900.

Necklace consisting of four rows of beads with a rectangular spacer in the centre, keeping the rows apart, and a triangular terminal at each end. The beads on the four rows are mainly knobbly silver beads made from pyramids of granules soldered together. Between every four knobbly beads is a plain open filigree bead, with those closest to the centre enclosing a silver bead. On the lowest row there is a pendent hollow ball hanging between every two necklace beads. The spacer and terminals are made of plain sheet silver with filigree patterns applied on the front. The central spacer is also set with two pastes (originally three), one red and one blue. The central spacer has a tiny open filigree pendant shaped like a cylindrical amulet case hanging from its lower edge, with a flat filigree pendant, shaped like a rectangle with a domed top, hanging from that. There are three small hollow balls hanging from the lower edge of the lowest pendant. The necklace is strung on four strands of natural cotton, which are tied and cut off as they emerge from the terminals.

Bequeathed by Edmond Dresden

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 type of necklace, called a lazem, is one of the traditional styles made by the Jewish goldsmiths. Its main distinguishing feature was a pendent cylindrical amulet case, but this has been reduced to barely more than a decorative element in this piece. It was described as modern Egyptian work when it was acquired in 1904, but there is no doubt that it originally came from the Yemen. The general shape is typical of Yemeni jewellery, as is the open filigree amulet case, and the flat domed filigree pendant hanging below it. The silver beads are one of the most characteristic elements of jewellery from the Yemen, and are not found anywhere else. They are made of granules soldered together in pyramids, called tut in the local language, because they resemble mulberry berries.

357-1904