A PAIR OF TUAREG SILVER HOOP EARRINGS (TSABIT OR TEZABITEN)
Possibly Niger, Northern Mali or Southern Algeria, Africa, first half 20th century

Of typical circular shape, designed as large curved nails, one end with a diamond-shaped, flattened head engraved with a sunburst in the middle and concentric lines on the edges, and developing into a tapering conical body, the latter end with a spiky tail, each terminal decorated with triple apotropaic, auspicious 'evil eye' beaded motif in-filled triangles, alternating cross-hatched squares, embellished with further ring-punched and linear fretwork friezes, the main curvilinear body plain.

Each 4cm diameter and 5.5cm high

Total 70gr.

An almost identical pair of earrings attributed to the Iullemmeden Basin (Berber language: Iwellemmedden), a major sub-Saharan inland basin in West Africa, is published in Wolf-Dieter Seiwert, Jewellery from the Orient: Treasures from the Bir Collection, 2009, p. 96, cat. no. 189. Another analogous pair, attributed to Central Sahara, is published in Rachel Hasson, Later Islamic Jewellery, 1987, p. 75, cat. 100.

A very similar pair, in which the head rather than being diamond-shaped is a dodecahedron, but bearing the same geomantic auspicious 'eyed' motif typical of Tuareg jewellery, is published in René van der Star, Ethnic Jewellery from Africa, Asia, and Pacific Islands, 2008, p. 35.

The curled nail-like design gives a very contemporary look to this pair of earrings. The style can be found on a number of contemporary jewellery productions, the most famous probably the Juste un Clou collection of the high-end French jewellery Maison, Cartier, testifying to the long-lasting impact foreign ethnographic jewellery had in Europe in the 20th century.