Moroccan Necklace

This necklace, designated as a tazra in Berber, is an example of 12th- and 13th century AH/18th- and 19th-century CE Moroccan goldsmith and jewellery craftsmanship. It is composed of three large pendants made of gold wire grounds embossed and set with sapphires, emeralds, rubies alternating with seed pearls, possibly coming from the Red Sea of the Gulf. The enamelling and the gem-setting using precious stones, while associating them with seed pearls, gathers the cultural exchange around the Mediterranean with clear Indian and Turkish influence of the same period as well as older Roman traditions. Although more common jewellery in Morocco is in silver, pieces in gold set with precious stones show the taste of Moroccan upper classes in urban centres like Fez, Tangier, Meknes and Essaouira, where workshops are known since the 6th century AH/12th century CE and in which many Moroccan Jews were specialised in the making of jewellery as well as trading precious stones. This type of necklace would have been the usual pectoral worn by the bride on her wedding day.