This silver shoulder brooch would have been worn by Kabyle women in the first half of the nineteenth century to fasten their robes. The Kabyles are a Berber people from the Atlas mountains in North Eastern Algeria. The front and back are decorated with a pattern of silver wire forming spaces filled with enamel or coral. Coral was a popular decoration as it was believed to contain baraka (good luck), offer protection from evil and enhance fertility.

This brooch was probably made by a Jewish silversmith. In the late fifteenth century many Jewish people immigrated to North Africa. The Jewish population dominated the silversmithing profession and brought with them many new jewellery techniques (such as enamelling) which they handed down from generation to generation.