A PAIR OF LARGE HMONG TRIBE SPIRAL SILVER EARRINGS
Possibly Laos or Thailand, South East Asia, mid-20th century

Each earring made of heavy silver wire with an integral, protruding conical spiral in the centre, terminating in a sinuous S-shaped hook.

Each 5cm diameter

Total 68gr. (34gr. each)

The Hmong are a large indigenous group in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In China, they are classified as an ethnic sub-class of the Miao people, and they speak a variant of Sino-Tibetan languages. With over 50/60.000 Hmong representatives, Thailand has offered a new haven and safe home for this and other Eastern Asian ethnic minorities, who had often suffered the consequences of living a life 'on the edge' of countries in constant clash over national borders (René van der Star, L'arte dei gioielli d'argento: le minoranze della Cina, del Triangolo d'Oro, Mongolia e Tibet, 2006, p. 38).

The lives of the Hmong community are thus dominated by a strong desire for independence as opposed to the Akha, who wish for continuity. Hard-working, industrious and anticonventional, the Hmongs seek economic independence and religious freedom (Paul and Elaine Lewis, Peoples of the Golden Triangle: Six Tribes in Thailand, 1984, p. 10). This 'independence / fringe' mentality is partially translated at a tangible level in the unique, bold and sturdy design of their silver jewellery creations.