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Head ornament

Head Ornament
1818 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Flat silver-gilt plaque, slightly curved, with a chain pendant attached. The plaque is roughly triangular in shape with a flat base and a top in the form of a fleur de lys. It is decorated on the front with applied filigree motifs, some containing traces of green cloisonné enamel, and four striated corals in closed mounts. There is an Arabic inscription across the centre. There are five loops along the lower edge and a hole at the tip of each of the three points of the triangle. A pendant hangs from the hole on the extreme right. This consists of a filigree bead with a curved rosette, divided into eight lobes, at its base. There is a loop-in-loop chain hanging from each lobe of the rosette, with a pierced disc at its top, a larger perforated disc at its end, and a wire holding two red glass beads in its centre. Each of the discs also originally contained a red glass bead, but many of these are now missing. The whole pendant is attached to the main plaque by a short length of three loop-in-loop chains side by side, separated by two rings.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHead ornament
Materials and techniques
Cast silver-gilt decorated with green cloisonné enamel and set with striated corals, with red glass beads
Brief description
Ornament for a woman’s headband, decorative plaque with pendant chain, silver-gilt with traces of cloisonné enamel and striated corals, inscribed in Arabic and dated 1233 AH (1818 AD), Cairo, Egypt.
Physical description
Flat silver-gilt plaque, slightly curved, with a chain pendant attached. The plaque is roughly triangular in shape with a flat base and a top in the form of a fleur de lys. It is decorated on the front with applied filigree motifs, some containing traces of green cloisonné enamel, and four striated corals in closed mounts. There is an Arabic inscription across the centre. There are five loops along the lower edge and a hole at the tip of each of the three points of the triangle. A pendant hangs from the hole on the extreme right. This consists of a filigree bead with a curved rosette, divided into eight lobes, at its base. There is a loop-in-loop chain hanging from each lobe of the rosette, with a pierced disc at its top, a larger perforated disc at its end, and a wire holding two red glass beads in its centre. Each of the discs also originally contained a red glass bead, but many of these are now missing. The whole pendant is attached to the main plaque by a short length of three loop-in-loop chains side by side, separated by two rings.
Dimensions
  • Plaque width: 9.5cm
  • Length: 14.5cm (with pendant)
Length of pendant 16 cm
Marks and inscriptions
(base of the plaque)
Object history
Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).
Associations
Collection
Accession number
940-1884

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Record createdApril 9, 2003
Record URL
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