Circular silver-gilt filigree head ornament (Kurs) with a central green paste, possibly Cairo, Egypt, 1850-1884.

Silver-gilt disc of open filigree with a filigree dome in the centre surmounted by a round green paste. The filigree dome is surrounded by concentric bands of coil rings, coil rings on rosettes, and hollow domes, and the spokes of the pattern are decorated with small ingots.

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).

Elaborate discs were worn as women’s head ornaments in towns and villages throughout the Ottoman Empire. They were attached to the top of a cap or fez, and often had pendants hanging down from the rim. The details varied from place to place. In Egypt they were usually called ‘Kurs’, which is an Arabic word meaning disc. In the Balkans and Anatolia the Turkish name ‘tepelik’, meaning a little mound, was more common.

This example was described as a ‘boss for a woman’s Tarboosh or Fez, Saracenic, from Cairo’ when it was acquired by the Museum in 1884.

939-1884