Collection of Four Swahili Coast Silver Ear Spools (Kuta)

These four large ear spools or plugs are of silver sheet with applied silver filigree and granulation work. Each is double sided, but interestingly, the decoration on each side is quite different to the other. Three of the four spools is a box that opens. Perfume often was put inside. The fourth which does not open has some small beads or similar inside so that it rattles in a pleasing manner with movement.

Such ear spools were worn by Swahili women among the Swahili Coast. Divorce among the Swahili was easy and relatively common – the women were allowed to take their jewellery with them an indeed, the gold and silver jewellery that they owned permitted them the financial means to leave an unhappy marriage and to survive for a while thereafter.

The ear spools would be worn in very stretched holes in the ear lobes. Usually, they would wear large ear plugs made from buffalo horn, but for special occasions, ear spools from silver and gold would be worn.

Silver such as the spools here was made by silversmiths on Pate Island, just north of Lamu Island, on the coast of Kenya and more broadly on what is known as the Swahili coast.

The people of the Swahili coast have been engaged with lively international trade since at least the 15th century. Trade took place with the African interior and with merchants from the middle east and India, particularly Gujarat.

Similar examples in silver are illustrated in Fisher (1987, p. 287-289).