Three-part silver and silver-gilt filigree clasp set with turquoises, Western Asia, 1800-1870.

Three hollow plaques of filigree work, consisting of a central square, with a matching triangle at either side. All are plain on the back and have filigree decoration, set with a central piece of turquoise, on the front. The filigree design on the front of the square is gilded and made of open filigree, while the two triangles are ungilded, and the matching filigree designs are laid over sheet silver. The sides of all pieces have a repousse geometric design. There are bars for attachment on the back of each piece, and a loop at the far end of each triangle. Each piece has loops along its lower edge, three on the triangles and four on the square, from which hang drop-shaped flat filigree pendants (five missing).

This was described as an Anatolian clasp when it was acquired by the Museum in 1873, among a group of jewellery which was mainly from Syria and the Lebanon.

Its purpose and origin are unclear. It has no means of fastening, and the bars on the back suggest that it was originally threaded on a band of material. This would allow it to be worn as a bazuband, a three-part ornament worn mainly by men in Persia and northern India on the upper arm. The bazuband was not usually worn in Anatolia. The type of filigree is more suggestive of the Yemen than Anatolia, but the bazuband was not typically worn there either.

82-1873