The Horniman Museum will be closed from 24-26 December. The Horniman Gardens will be closed 25 December only.
A key of iron and brass attached to a padlock with a leather thong.
Padlock key called 'asrou', 'asaru' or 'aswel' in Tamasheq. Women sometimes wear the larger lock keys as veil weights ('asaru n'swul'). Veil weights are attached to the corner of a veil or shawl and worn over the shoulder, and, apart from being decorative, they function to keep the veil in place. The more ornate keys, specifically made as veil weights, are a status symbol and a sign of wealth (Loughran, 1996, p 259f.).
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
