earrings

General view of object no. 2007.161.
General view of object no. 2007.161.

2007.161

This pair of large, round earrings made from cast silver with polyhedral ends has incised, punched and blackened geometrical motifs of lines, circles, and grids on the two polyhedral ends.

The earrings were collected by Ursel Widemann who was carrying out fieldwork in Agadez, Niger for her doctoral thesis on Tuareg clothing and identity. From December 2005 until January 2006, Widemann collected artefacts for the Horniman in Agadez, as the museum's agent. As these earrings are very heavy, the weight is sometimes alleviated by attaching a leather band to them, worn over the head. Ursel Widemann explained in the Museum records that she also saw a few young women not inserting the earrings at all into the earlobes but only wearing them attached to a leather band.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
2007.161
Date
before December 2005
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 60 mm x 60 mm x 20 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
silver
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
On display: Horniman Museum > World Gallery > Africa > Tuareg - people of the void
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Collection Information

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