Not currently on display at the V&A

Earring

1856-1899 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The traditional jewellery of the Berber tribes of North Africa is almost always made of silver in heavy, clearly-defined shapes. Although individual pieces rarely date back any earlier than the 19th century, the designs are very old, and European observers liked to find traces of Roman or Phoenician influence.

Earrings like this, with a large hoop and decorative end, are found throughout the Maghreb. This design, of a stylised snake’s head, comes from Tunisia. It was worn with a cord connecting the two holes at the ends, which was often decorated with beads, pendants, or a small cylindrical amulet case.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Earring
  • Earring
Materials and techniques
silver
Brief description
Pair of large silver hoop earrings with one end terminating in a stylised snake's head, Tunisia, 1856-1899.
Physical description
Pair of silver hoop earrings made of plain wire, each flattened at one end and pierced with a hole. The other end has a lozenge of flat sheet silver attached with a hollow, highly stylised, snake’s head on the front and a hole at the end.
Dimensions
  • Width: 5.4cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Traces of illegible mark in Arabic. (On flat part by snake's head.)
    Translation
    Possibly a town mark.
  • Partial long mark with Arabic character. (On hoop.)
    Translation
    Mark for 900 standard silver 1856-1905.
Credit line
Bequeathed by Edmond Dresden
Object history
Accessions register entry: 'Pair of Earrings of silver. / Each formed of a wire of circular section, flattened out and pierced at one end, and at the other terminating in a broad casting resembling a duck's head, of which the beak is pierced. / North African / 319, diam. 2in., 319a, diam. 2 1/8 in.'
Historical context
'Tunisian jewellery includes a wide variety of hoops, often very large; the circle, with its range of symbolic meanings, offers numerous possibilities for decoration, which may be geometric, cosmic or zoomorphic, like the serpent's heads seen above, of which Tunisian women are extremely fond.'
A World of Earrings, Anne Van Cutsem, Milan: Skira, 2001, p.36
Production
Possibly Tunisia
Summary
The traditional jewellery of the Berber tribes of North Africa is almost always made of silver in heavy, clearly-defined shapes. Although individual pieces rarely date back any earlier than the 19th century, the designs are very old, and European observers liked to find traces of Roman or Phoenician influence.

Earrings like this, with a large hoop and decorative end, are found throughout the Maghreb. This design, of a stylised snake’s head, comes from Tunisia. It was worn with a cord connecting the two holes at the ends, which was often decorated with beads, pendants, or a small cylindrical amulet case.
Collection
Accession number
319&A-1904

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Record createdApril 8, 2003
Record URL
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