Necklace

Yemen’s location at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula made it an important site for the trade of goods from the Indian subcontinent and East Africa, as well as to the rest of the Islamic world. Yemeni jewelry often displays foreign influence, as can be seen in this multi-strand necklace with triangular-shaped terminals – a form that is typical of India.


Much nineteenth-century Yemeni jewelry was made by Jewish craftsmen using melted-down Maria Theresa Thaler coins. This European currency minted in the Hapsburg Empire became common in Yemen in the eighteenth century due to the export of coffee and indigo from the Arabian Peninsula. In Yemen it took on new life as jeweled objects that were included in a bridal trousseau for a young woman.