Silver-gilt clasp with enamel, pastes and seed pearls, Cyprus, 1750-1850.

Two-part silver-gilt clasp lavishly decorated with filigree enamel, coloured pastes and seed pearls. Each part is circular with a scalloped rim and cast pierced trimmings of baroque foliage round the edges, increasing to a point at the extreme outside edge of each part. There is a band of beaded wire round the rim. The face is slightly curved and covered with filigree enamel appliqués which are attached to the base plate by rivets with domed heads. In the centre of the face is a raised rosette of green and blue enamel with a white paste in the centre. Around this are six rosettes set with central pastes of red or green each surrounded by a ring of seed pearls threaded on wire (many missing). Round the outside is a band of six curled stylised tulips, of blue and green enamel.

The back of each part has a bar for attachment, and two flat plates with curved edges. One part has a curved sideways hook on the inside rim, and the other has a corresponding loop.

Throughout the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, from the north Balkans to the Caucasus, large and elaborate waist clasps were the most important item in a woman’s dowry. These clasps come in a small number of basic shapes, including round, as here. Round Ottoman clasps are never completely circular – they always have a protrusion, however slight, on the two ends. The women who owned them sewed them onto cloth belts which they made themselves, usually richly embroidered.

Cypriot clasps are part of the general Ottoman tradition, but are often more sophisticated and decorative than those from elsewhere. The goldsmiths of Cyprus were famous for their filigree work, often enriched with blue and green enamels. They rarely marked their work. This clasp was described as 18th century when it was acquired, and this may be true. It was bought in 1888, just after a terrible famine, when many people had to sell their family heirlooms to survive.

1526&A-1888