Yemenite silversmithing

Yemenite silversmithing refers to the work of Jewish silversmiths from Yemen. They were highly acclaimed craftsmen who dominated craft production in precious metals in the southern Arabian peninsula from the 18th through the mid-20th century, a period and region during which Muslims did not engage in this work. These Yemenite silversmiths were noted for their use of fine granulation and filigree, producing such ornaments as women's bracelets, necklaces, finials, etc.

Showcase of silver craft
Silver Bracelets, Early 20th century (photographed by: David Harris)

History
Yemenite Jewish silversmith in Wadi Amlaḥ, 1980s

Yemenite silversmiths, a trade held almost exclusively by Jews living in the traditional Yemeni society, were active from at least as far back as the mid 1700s.[1][2] The largest clientele for jewellery made of gold and silver were women, and the amount of jewellery worn was often an indicator of the woman's status.[3] Some Yemenite silversmiths migrated to Israel in the late 1800s, a migration that continued in the early 1900s. In the early 20th-century, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design employed many Yemenites in the production of fine silver jewellery.[4]

Between June 1949 and September 1950, almost the entire Jewish community in Yemen, including nearly every silversmith in the country, immigrated to Israel in an airborne mass migration known as Operation Magic Carpet. Muslims appear to have entered silversmithing in the Yemen in the mid-1900s as the Jews departed for Israel.[5] Mass-produced gold and silver jewellery began to be imported into the Yemen in the 1930s, and dominated the market by the end of the 20th century, causing traditional silversmithing to dwindle.[6][7][8]

Yemenite silversmiths at Bezalel School of Art, 1909

According to Mark. S. Wagner, Professor of Arabic literature and Islamic Law at Louisiana State University, it is difficult to say how silver- and gold-smithing came to be regarded as occupations that were too impure for Muslims in the Yemen to engage in.[6] Jewish silversmiths in this region sometimes moonlighted as dentists, since their jeweler's pliers could be used to draw teeth.[6] Notwithstanding, it was generally accepted in Yemen that specialist silversmiths enjoyed an influential status that towered over all others within the Jewish community, since silversmiths belonged to the community's spiritual elite.[3]

Yemenite silversmiths melted silver coins to produce Janbiya (dagger) hilts, bridal jewellery and other silver objects.[8][9] The Maria Theresa thaler, minted continuously since 1741, was especially favored for its consistent silver content and fineness (containing a 83% silver content; the rest an alloy),[8] and which currency was widely in use in Yemen owing to the Mocha coffee trade with the French, and a Yemeni request that its produce be paid with thalers.[10]

Style and silver content

Yemenite silver-work is noted for its intricate use of filigree and fine granulation.[2][5] Jewellery containing a high silver content was called by local Jews, ṭohōr, or in the Arabic tongue, muḫlaṣ, the intent being to jewellery whose silver content ranged from 85% to 92% (sterling silver), while the rest being copper. In Sana'a, Jewish silversmiths routinely made-use of the Maria Theresa thaler, remelting it. The disadvantaged of the cities and in the rural regions, as well as Bedouins, would routinely order jewellery whose silver content was lower, up to 60% silver, the remainder of which being copper and which had the name of fuḍah. A lower quality silver was called niṣfī, a word having the connotation of “half,” implying that it was made half of silver and half of copper.[11]

Labbe necklaces
Barley-grain Labbe Necklace, Gilt silver filigree, granulation (20th-century)

Among the variety of jewellery known in Yemen, the labbe (ornate bib-necklace) is the most impressive in its complexity. A highly skilled work of Jewish silversmiths, it is a testimony of exquisite craftsmanship, requiring painstaking work and a developed artistic sense, expressed by the harmonious and aesthetic blend of its many parts. The labbe is a popular piece of jewelry among Jewish and Muslim women alike. In Arabic, the name labbe indicates the sunken place beneath the Adam's apple on the neck, where it is worn.[11]

Labbe necklaces made of applied filigree, being open and airy like the interlaced net of a spider’s web, became more popular during the Ottoman conquest of Yemen, in the mid-19th century, and were given the name labbat šabek in Sana'a, after its technique. Until then, most were prepared by using casting techniques, and embossing and fashioning from solid pieces.[11] Only a few were made from silver.[12] The labbe is traditionally made from dozens of components arranged in horizontal rows, or storeys (projected lines). The top row forms the base of the necklace, with connecting parts (usually serial pendants) densely strung upon a cotton or silk thread, extending downwards lengthwise, in identical columns and which form the horizontal lines. It consists of one row – or more – of parts, whose shapes are varied: diamond-shaped rhomboids, squares and rectangles, round beads or rosettes. Most contain smooth plates of metal, in circular and diamond-shaped (rhombus) forms, and are studded with jewels called in Arabic zihreh, meaning, pearls, amber, corals and colored glass.[11] The artisans would also lavishly apply decorations made from small, rounded silver granules. Coin pendants are characteristic of the labbe necklaces worn by villagers. Large labbe necklaces may have as many as thirty or more rows.[11]

Labbe Shabek (Great Necklace) from Sana'a, Yemen - 19th-20th century

The components are interconnected by coiled rings in the vertical and horizontal rows. The location of the items in the vertical lines are complementary to each other, as well as uniform along all the vertical lines. In the vertical lines there are four to eight items that are connected one beneath the other by a metal wire in the shape of the figure-eight, called in Arabic methamāna, meaning "eight." For most, the edges of the base end with either triangles or cones. Occasionally, motifs used in its base were also incorporated in the body of the labbe, particularly the rosette, the lozenge and the round bead. Labbe necklaces worn by Muslim women typically differed from those worn by Jewish women, insofar that they lacked a base.[11] In labbe necklaces typically worn by Muslim women in central Yemen, they made use of convex components, or motifs that were round and belly-shaped, resembling leaves or barley-grains (Arabic: aqrāṭ she‘iriyāt). In some places, it was common to attach a piece of woven cloth on the back of the labbe, like the inner lining of garments, to protect the clothes and the embroidery, as well as the skin, from abrasions.[13]

Silver amulet case with pendants

Techniques

While silver granules can also be made by dropping melted silver into cold water, in Yemen, most silversmiths used a different technique. The silver granules (šaḏir) were prepared from a silver wire cut into small pieces, which were then concealed within ashes that were heated by a flame, during which heating process they obtained their round shape. From them, they prepared masbūʻāt – the rose-like cluster consisting of seven granules, and matisūʻāt – the diamond-shaped rhombus consisting of nine granules, the mulberry beads known as tūt for the choker necklace (maʻnaqeh), among other things. This process forms granules, or "droplets" that are perfectly round. These were soldered onto the piece of jewellery as desired.

Silver wires were made in Yemen by pouring melted silver into a finger-length mold made from special earth and which was shaped like a tube.[14] A substance similar to borax (known as tinkar in the Yemenite dialect of Arabic - and otherwise known as the "glue of the silversmith") was solely used in Yemen for the purpose of soldering in order to bind together two separate silver pieces (especially for applying fine and delicate work, such as granules, to a silver plate). Cadmium was not used in Yemen for this purpose at all. A different substance was used when soldering silver wires to a plate, and which were applied to the plate by wire soldering tweezers.[15]

In recent years in Yemen, the silversmith bought all these materials (granules, wires and plates) pre-manufactured.

Neillo technique

The relative composition of different metals used in making a niello-bracelet in Yemen varied, although a popular composite consisted of the following: For every 10 grammes of fine red copper (Arabic: ṭab), they added 20 grammes of black lead (Arabic: raṣāṣ aswad), 1 gram of sterling silver (Judeo-Arabic: ṭohōr), 3 grammes of sulphur (Arabic: kabrit), and 3/4 gramme of crude borax (Arabic: tinkar) (for definition of this term, see infra).[16]

The heaviest metals were first put inside the crucible (Arabic: būṭa) for melting, followed by the lighter metals: silver and copper, brought to a boiling state, after which the craftsman added lead, followed by sulphur. Once the sulphur is added to the mixture and stirred, the craftsman then poured the molten metal into a flat mold (Arabic: mafraj) made of molding sand (a process known as casting), which was done before the sulphur burnt out.[17] The mold was made with many sunken, groove-like impressions and insertable slots running lengthwise where the craftsman poured the molten metal to form either rods (wires) or plaques.[18] Experienced silversmiths in Yemen would cast the desired shape by first adding tinkar (a solder made of crude borax) into a mold where there was powdered sulphur.[17] The tinkar, in this case, was first pounded to a powder and mixed together with a finely ground niello-metal piece after it had solidified, which powdered elements were added to the mold before casting the molten metal. This prevented the appearance of a hardened, membranous film on the surface of the finished object due to the heat.

After casting in the mold used for making rectangular-shaped ingots, they removed the metal after it had solidified, and began to work it into a flat sheet of silver by pounding with a wooden mallet, until it was perfectly flat and had a conformity in its thickness, based on eyesight and feel.[19] In Yemen, there were no micrometers. The flat sheet of silver was then cut with snips to its desired size, after which it was rolled over the rounded end of an iron implement (having one end that was rounded), similar to a ball-peen hammer (Arabic: ribāl), until it was fashioned into what resembled a hollow pipe.[19] Within its center, they cast molten lead, or else a different substance known as qār, made from what is left after burning wood, and which had the same malleability as lead.[20] After the pipe has been filled with molten lead and it solidifies, then began the process of slowly bending the silver into the shape of a bracelet.[19]

To facilitate the easy fashioning of this cylindrical pipe soon-to-be bracelet, the craftsmen would make use of a block of wood, appx. 30 centimetres (12 in) in height, 20 centimetres (7.9 in) wide, and 35 centimetres (14 in) in length, in which there was a groove measuring in diameter 3 fingerbreadths and which ran clear across the surface of the block of wood, in its entirety, at a depth of ca. 6 centimetres (2.4 in). The block of wood was made with several of these grooves, in various sizes, some deeper and narrower than the others. Through this groove cut into the surface of the block of wood, the craftsman would pass a wooden rod with which he rounded and bent the bracelet into shape.[19] He passed the cylindrical pipe through the groove, first at its breadth, and afterwards narrowing it, repeating the process until eventually he was left with the desired shape and the two ends of the cylindrical pipe were brought closer together. After he is left with a smooth bracelet, and where welding was done from within the bracelet (rather than on its outside), the craftsman marked with charcoal or a pencil the designs he wished to make on the niello product and forthwith began the process of etching, making use of variously designed burins, float files, and gouges, some flat-tipped, others pointed; some rounded and others made like a pair of compasses, etc.[19]

Once etching is completed, they removed the lead by lightly heating the bracelet in fire.[21] After emptying-out the lead, the craftsman then welded the two halves together, at their respective ends, leaving one or two small holes in the bracelet, so that when it was reheated it did not burst due to the accumulation of vapors.[21] The piece was then cleaned-off thoroughly and burnished with finely ground sea-sand that had been sifted (Arabic: baṭḥa), so as not to cause abrasions to the finished product.[21] The sea-sand was kept in an earthenware vessel. In those places where he made designs and wanted them to be highlighted with a blueish-grey hue, he painted the area with the powdered neillo metallic-compounds (consisting of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead), and placed the finished piece over a brazier bearing coals (Arabic: maghmareh) for heating over a low-heat, to which is attached a pair of bellows that is used to lightly blow air into the brazier.[21][22] Over the brazier there is laid a grid-iron to support the bracelet. During this process, the bracelet is turned over the fire so as to melt the powdered substance applied to the bracelet. Afterwards, the bracelet is removed from the brazier and allowed to cool, and it is once again burnished with finely ground sea-sand.[21]

Terminology
  • chabath = slag that comprises litharge of silver (from the silversmith's refinery)[23]
  • fatil = twisted silver wire; one wire that is twined from two thin metal wires
  • fuḍah = alloyed silver
  • kutub = amulet encasement
  • lāz aswad = niello-decorated (also called kaḥāl)
  • mshawsaq = rhomboids
  • qubleh = hood adornment, usually made from fine, filigree jewelled silver pieces used as appliqué and sewn on the gargush hood.
  • ṣab = the complete casting of a jewellery piece, such as a bracelet
  • ṣom = a substance used by the older Yemenites in smelting silver, used primarily in very fine and delicate applications so as not to suffer the silver to melt before it was shaped and applied.
  • tiklūl = white silver granules
  • tinkar = pulver (a soldering powder made from crude borax)[24]
  • ṭohōr = sterling silver (usually obtained by remelting silver coins, those with a silver-content of no less than 85% silver and 15% copper)[25]

Museum holdings

Yemenite silver is owned by the Israel Museum, The Walters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum.[2][1][26][27]

Museum exhibitions

See also
  • Silver earrings
  • Mannequin with silver jewelry
  • Yemenite Bracelet with signature of artisan
  • Silver bracelet
  • Woman's Headband
  • Silversmith Yosef Salah (Tzadok) in his trade

References
  1. "Necklace". metmuseum.org. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  2. "Diadem and Dagger: Jewish Silversmiths of Yemen". thewalters.org. Walters Art Museum. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. Guilat, Yael (2018), p. 227
  4. "The Bezalel Exhibition at Madison Square Garden". The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger. 16 January 1914.
  5. Ransom, Marjorie (January 2012). "The Enduring Craft of Yemeini Silver". Saudi Aramco World. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  6. Wagner, Mark A. (2014). Jews and Islamic Law in Early 20th-Century Yemen. Indiana University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0253014924.
  7. Akkerman, Ari (5 March 2012). "Will the Jewish silver craft survive in Yemen?". Yemen Times. ProQuest 926430364.
  8. Ransom, Marjorie (2014). Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba; Regional Yemeni Jewelry. American University in Cairo Press. p. 219. ISBN 9789774166006.
  9. Pomerantz, Batsheva (6 December 2013). "Yemenite steps - near Jerusalem". Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 1467045016.
  10. Ghalib bin Awadh al-Qu'aiti, The Maria Theresa Thaler in Hadhramaut: Some Reflections, The British-Yemeni Society
  11. Klein-Franke, Aviva (2008), pp. 89–102
  12. Ḥibshūsh notes: “Generally speaking, items wrought in silver were very few, and no one asked for them except the royalty and the illustrious men of the kingdom. Tribesmen and most of the public were content with having jewelry made of iron, copper, lead and glass beads... Nowadays, silver products have become more plenteous than the copper and iron once used in the past.” (see Ḥibshūsh 1983, pp. 86–87).
  13. Qāfiḥ, Y. (1982a), pp. 190, 192 Photo 24; Colyer-Ross (1981), p. 108; Janata (1989), Photo 61 on p. 136, the text 38-E on p. 186; Heimberg (1986), p. 84; Untracht (1982), p. 174; Sergeant and Lewcock (1983), p. 540; Muchawsky-Schnapper, Ester (2000), pp. 128-129
  14. Van Praag, Esther (2007), p. 100
  15. A modern technique of making a temporary binder (jeweler's cement) is to take 6 parts of lump rosin to 4 parts of plaster of paris. The rosin is heated slowly until it melts, and plaster is then added slowly, stirring in a small amount at a time. Proportions can be adjusted for a harder or softer cement. Gum Arabic and Tragacanth gum are both used as a glue in several processes, such as granulation, niello, and in some soldering situations. They completely volatilize under the heat and leave no residue ash (Untracht, O. (1975:441)).
  16. Qafih, Y. (1982b), p. 91
  17. Qafih, Y. (1982b), p. 90
  18. Qafih, Y. (1982a), p. 234 (s.v. מפרג)
  19. Qafih, Y. (1982b), p. 92
  20. Although lead is a soft metal and malleable, according to Rabbi Qafih, the qār substance used in filling the cavity was preferable over lead, since removing it from the cavity was easier to do, whereas with lead if the silver piece were to be overheated when extracting the lead, the craftsman ran the risk of damaging the surface of the silver bracelet by the molten lead, resulting in a perforated product. Mishnah Kelim 10:2 mentions the property of lead as being able to tighten a hold on a lid and to support it, but which cannot form a hermetic seal on ceramic-ware lids.
  21. Qafih, Y. (1982b), p. 93
  22. Qafih, Y. (1982a), p. 233 (s.v. מגמרה)
  23. In Yemen, the method of extraction from the silversmith's refinery was as follows: After collecting the dried dung of cattle and after it was burnt until it becomes like fine powder, it was pounded and placed beneath the place where the silversmith would work the silver. When soldering pieces together, he would then take lead (or cadmium) and silver; he smelted the lead (or cadmium) while fanning the unalloyed silver ("tohor"), so that the two pieces adhere together. The molten lead that fell below was sifted with the dried dung. This substance is litharge of silver. Once the substance hardens from the molten lead and silver, and forms into a rock-like substance, he takes it up and chisels away the greyish or blackish stone, leaving only the brown colored stone. He then takes a brittle cloth or pad and washes it in soapy water, allowing it to dry thereafter. Whenever the substance was needed, he would take up the desired quantity and crush it in mortar and pestle. It was pounded until fine, sifted through a sieve, and again pounded. The dust, litharge of silver, served as an antiperspirant, and also acts to fill-up cavities caused by ulcers and to soften tumours. The ground powder was stored in a small, sealed container.
  24. Formerly, when soldering, they would first apply to the place of connection a pulver of crude borax, and then apply a smoldering substance (silver and lead), which was then heated. Today, in modern techniques, they use either a thin metal wire which is melted or plate of same substance. The purpose of the tinkar was to prevent the appearance of a thin film on the surface of the bracelet due to the heat. Without which, the thin membranous film would become hardened on the surface of the jewellery piece (Qafih 1982:90).
  25. Qafih, Y. (1982a), p. 231
  26. "necklace / qur'an-case / amulet". britishmuseum.org. British Museum. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  27. "Costume and Jewelry: A Matter of Identity". museum.imj.org.il. Israel Museum. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  28. Wecker, Menachem (10 December 2012). "Silversmithing in the Yemen". TheForward. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  29. "Silver Speaks: Traditional Jewelry of the Middle East". Arab American National Museum. Retrieved 1 August 2017.

Bibliography
  • Colyer-Ross, H. (1981). Bedouin Jewellery. Fribourg
  • Guilat, Yael (2018), "The 'Israelization' of Yemenite-Jewish Silversmithing", in Rachel Yedid; Danny Bar-Maoz (eds.), Ascending the Palm Tree: An Anthology of the Yemenite Jewish Heritage, Rehovot: E'ele BeTamar, OCLC 1041776317 [first published in Zmanim (A Historical Quarterly), 110 (2010), pp. 80–90 (in Hebrew)]
  • Heimberg, U. (1986). Filigran und Granulation: Dekorationstechniken bei südwestarabischen Silberarbeiten, Baessler-Archiv, N.S. LIX/1, Berlin (Reimer)
  • Ḥibshūsh, H. (1983). Masot Habshush (The Journeys of Habshush): The Vision of Yemen – Rawʻiah al-Yaman, with an introduction by S.D. Goitein (Hebrew)
  • Janata, A. (1989). Jemen: Im Lande der Königin von Saba, Wein (Vienna)
  • Klein-Franke, Aviva (2008), "Silver and Gold Cuirass of Mail (The Labbe Necklaces)", in Abdar, Carmella (ed.), Ma'ase Rokem: Dress and Jewelry in the Tradition of the Jews of Yemen, Tel-Aviv: E'ele BeTamar, pp. 89–102, OCLC 646795963
  • Muchawsky-Schnapper, E. (2000). The Yemenites: Two Thousand Years of Jewish Culture. Jerusalem
  • Qafih, Y. (1982a). Halichot Teman (Jewish Life in Sanà) (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute. ISBN 965-17-0137-4. OCLC 863513860.
  • Qafih, Y. (1982b). "'Lāz' or 'Kaḥāl' - technique of producing niello - a blackened glaze on gold". Peʻamim: Quarterly - Studies in the Cultural Heritage of Oriental Jewry (Ed. Itzhak Bezalel) (in Hebrew). Ben-Zvi Institute (11): 89–93. JSTOR 23423679.
  • Sergeant, R. B. & Lewcock, R. (1983). Sana: An Arabian City, London
  • Untracht, O. (1975). Metal Techniques for Craftsmen. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co. OCLC 654997163.
  • Untracht, O. (1982). Jewellery Concepts and Technology. NW London
  • van Praag, Esther (2007). "Jewish Silversmiths in Yemen". TEMA – Journal of Judeo-Yemenite Studies. Netanya: Association for Society and Culture.
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