Berber Kabylia Silver Anklets

Pair of Silver Anklets with Coral & Enamel

This pair of silver anklets is richly embellished with applied silver plaques and buttons; red, orange, blue, green and yellow enamel and red coral. A long pin can be pulled from each allowing then to open, with one side being hinged.

Most probably this pair of anklets is the products of the Beni Yenni group of Berber people whose enamelled jewellery became well known in the Maghreb.

The Great Kabylia is a mountainous region in northern Algeria inhabited by Berbers. The local people have long made a living from pressing olive oil and drying figs. These anklets belong to a stylistic grouping of Maghreb silver ornaments distinguished by their enamelling. Another area for similar production was the West Anti-Atlas in Morocco, also inhabited by the Berber people.

Anklets such as these would have been worn at important ritual events such as weddings and also at festivals.

A related pair are illustrated in van der Star (2004, p. 25). A similar pair produced by Berber craftsmen around the southern Moroccan city of Tiznit is illustrated in Mourad (1998, p. 174.)

This pair is in excellent condition with no losses.

Mourad, K. et al, Arts et Traditions du Maroc, ACR Edition, 1998; van der Star, R. et al, Ethnic Jewellery: From Africa, Asia and Pacific Islands, The Pepin Press, 2004; & Le Fur, Y., Musee du Quai Branley: The Collection, Flammarion, 2009.