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Course: Art of Africa > Unit 5
Lesson 5: MoroccoAmazigh (Berber) jewelry
Amazigh ear pendants, early 20th century (Anti-Atlas Region, Morocco), silver alloy, enamel, glass, and carnelian, 34.4 x 20.3 x 2.9 cm (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.) A conversation between Dr. Peri Klemm and Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Smarthistory.
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- Do the royals and people in high society wear them only?(1 vote)
Video transcript
(jazzy piano music) - [Beth] We're in the
Museum of African Art here in Washington, DC and we're looking at
jewelry from North Africa. - [Peri] These are ear pendants that would've been worn in
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco by either Jewish or Berber women. - [Beth] Instead of
being clamped on the ear or worn through the ear,
like a pierced earring, these were suspended
from the top of the head by the hook that we see at the top with that carnelian stone in it, and then draped on
either side of the head. We're only seeing one element of what would've been an
elaborate display of jewelry. - [Peri] These are so
elaborately created and so heavy, they couldn't possibly
be inserted into the ear. They just hang down as a woman's walking. - [Beth] Someone who is
wealthy, would've worn these. - [Peri] This would've
been someone of high status who was also married. This suggests her dowry, her wealth. The Berber and Jewish populations controlled the trade of silver and the silver caravans
throughout North Africa. Silver was their main currency, but rather than fashioning it into blocks, smiths created these beautiful
ornaments that women wore, so in a sense, she's wearing wealth and showing her status
through this ornament. - [Beth] We see intricate filigree work. We see decorative enamel
work and in the center we see a floral pattern with
some blue cloisonne or stone. - [Peri] Down at the bottom
are conical bell shapes that made music as she walked. - [Beth] There were
between 200 and 300,000 Jewish women in Morocco. If this was in fact
made for a Jewish woman, it was certainly made by a Jewish artisan, but today there were only about
two or 3000 Jews in Morocco. - [Peri] We do still
have Jewish smith shops in the major cities like Fez in Morocco, but today most women no longer wear pieces made with silver, amber and carnelian. In fact, gold is more
popular and fashionable. Many of these older pieces
worn by their mothers or their grandmothers are sold, either to tourists or to museums and they end up in
collections like the one. These objects communicated
a whole host of things about the woman who wore them and she didn't wear them in isolation. So if they were worn by a Jewish woman it would've gone along
with something like this. - [Beth] This is an amazing head dress formed of so many different
types of materials. We've got silver, we've got
stone, we've got enamel. We've got delicate filigree work. We've got long braided
fibers hanging down. - [Peri] We even have
cattle or goat hair fringing at the top of that silver headband. - [Beth] This triangular shape at the top elongated a woman's forehead. It must have been fabulously
beautiful to wear. - [Peri] And the way in
which this dyed black fiber is braided tricks went into thinking that that is actually her hair, but in fact, her hair is
intended to be concealed as a married Jewish woman. - [Beth] And look at that dense
filigree work in that band that would've been across her forehead and these discs that danged
like the conical shape in the ear pendants so
we can also imagine this jingling as the woman walked. It's wonderful to see these pieces here in the Museum of African Art, because so often when we
think about African art, we think about the art
of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead of the art of
the entire continent, which would also include
Algeria and Morocco and Egypt. - [Peri] In addition we
tend to see wooden objects. So most collections are comprised of objects from West and Central Africa. And these are silver objects. They're personal objects. While they were crafted by a male smith, they would've been worn by
a Northern African woman as part of her ensemble
of part of her body art. - [Beth] There's so much fine detail and such fine workmanship that there's a real
showing off of the skill of the artisan who made these. (jazzy piano music)