The 1851 Great Exhibition inspired a series of ‘London International Exhibitions’ which took place in South Kensington in 1871, 1872, 1873 and 1874. Fine arts and scientific inventions and discoveries remained central display themes but each exhibition presented different aspects of manufacture. In 1872 one emphasis was on jewellery, including ‘peasant jewellery’. The Exhibition Commissioners arranged with the South Kensington Museum (later V&A) to make a collection of peasant jewellery from ‘all parts of the world, which should become public property, for exhibition in the Museum after the close of the Exhibition’. A letter was sent by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to British representatives overseas asking for their help in securing pieces of jewellery, particularly examples with ‘a direct connection with the native instinctive art, which has been handed down by a long tradition’. The outcome was considered to be ‘most satisfactory … a collection of characteristic ornaments never before equalled was obtained’.

This ornament is part of this collection. It is described in the Museum’s accessions register as an ‘ornament for the top of a fez or tarboosh’ (a round brimless red felt hat) from Egypt. It is formed of a silver disc from which hang seventeen chains and pendants. The pendants appear to represent common domestic objects including a hammer, an axe, a sword, a coffee pot and a frying pan. They would have been intended as amulets, to help protect and bring good fortune to the wearer.