Five-strand silver-gilt necklace with rectangular and triangular spacers and numerous pendants, Yemen, 1850-1900.

Necklace consisting of five rows of beads with a rectangular spacer in the centre, keeping the rows apart, and a triangular terminal at each end. The beads on the five rows consist of knobbly beads made from pyramids of granules soldered together alternating with cubic beads with the corners cut off. The spacer and terminals are made of gilded sheet silver with filigree patterns applied on the front. The central spacer has a tiny open filigree pendant, shaped like a cylindrical amulet case, hanging from its lower edge, with a flat filigree pendant (originally three) shaped like a square with a domed top, ending in three pendent leaves, hanging from that. There are eight similar flat filigree pendants hanging from the lowest row of the necklace, four on each side of the central pendant. Each of the flat filigree pendants has an empty setting for a stone in the centre of its front. The necklace is strung on five strands of natural cotton, which are tied and cut off as they emerge from the terminals.

In the 19th century, until their final exodus to Israel in the 1950s, Jewish goldsmiths made most of the silver jewellery in the Yemen. They were particularly renowned for the quality of their filigree work, which was worn and appreciated as much by Muslim as by Jewish women.

This type of necklace, called a lazem, is one of the traditional styles made by the Jewish goldsmiths. Its main distinguishing feature was a pendent cylindrical amulet case, but this has been reduced to barely more than a decorative element in this piece. The silver beads and pendants are also typical of Yemeni jewellery. Cubic beads with cut-away corners are found in several countries, but the little knobbly beads, made from granules soldered together in pyramids, are one of the most characteristic elements of Yemeni jewellery, and are not found anywhere else. The flat filigree pendants, shaped like a rectangle with a curved top, are also a clear indication of Yemeni origin.

M.300-1910