French Colonial Algeria (Third Republic)
a Handcrafted Hinge-and-Latch Silver Bracelet
circa 1892 (?)
For those who keep out a sleeplessly strained and hungry eye for high-quality jewellery, this bracelet classifies itself as an authentic prize of pure hand workmanship, with more than one hundred years of age incised into its fluid skin. Compared with others of its kind, this piece likely originates from the hands of a French crafter situated in late nineteenth century Northern Africa rather than from one of the many jewellery-designing natives practising at the time. Not unlike Algerian tribal jewellery similarly hewn from silver, the bracelet’s particular style of repetitive ‘fish scale’ grooving and shallow inner notching nonetheless defines its maker’s inspiration as being indirectly reflective of local decorative tradition. Its figure is somewhat more shy and streamline in unity than its indigenous silver siblings (many of which boast of bold heavy clefts and glorious additional ornamentation in the forms of 'egg' bells and chains), hinting of a subtle influence stemming from Northern and Eastern territories. A collective joint of wide-spread turn-of-the-century tastes, this bracelet’s core stretches between Spanish, Algerian-Moroccan and even Indian aesthetics - with this being the reason for which I fashioned its new gold-and-silver latch [once missing] a singular clawed brass bell, a classic of India.
