Unknown Maker, Yemeni

This intricate silver jewelry, probably once part of a headdress, was likely created by Jews in southern Yemen in the early 1900s. Chain-link examples like these drape a woman’s head and hang beside her face, the many jingling baubles producing sounds thought of as protective. This style was once solely produced by Jews, but today Yemenis of many backgrounds make and wear similar ornaments for weddings and special festivities.

Yemen is now majority-Muslim, but Arab Jews dominated the area prior to Islamic conquest in the 600s CE. After Palestine was controversially divided and Israel formed in 1948, most Yemeni Jews immigrated there.