Woman's Belt

The girdle is made of a flexible, interlace mesh and has eleven movable retainers with large rhombic attachments, each with two tear-shaped pendants, and twelve
retainers with smaller rhombic attachments, each with one pendant. All attachments were cast. Small rings and rosettes frame the large rhombic elements, and three-ring motif with burling rosettes accompany the smaller ones at their top and bottom. The clasps are also decorated with a large rhombic elements. A wire shaped in a figure-eight with a rosette is used as a closing element.

On the front of the clasps is an Arabic stamp with the name of the ruler and a date: al-Mahdi 1170. The similarity to stamps of al-Mahdi al-"Abbas makes it likely that the
pendants were produced under his reign from AH 1161 to 1189 (AD 1748-1775).

An engraved inscription on the back of the clasp names the silversmith: Musa "Iraqi. For another object by Musa "Iraqi, see Walters 57.2321.