Armband

Three Kazakh Armbands (2014.714.16a, .b and 2015.648.14)

These three armbands are new to the literature and have been identified as Kazakh by the trade. This attribution is probably correct, although the technique of silver shot and stamped beading imitating granulation, which is currently identified with Kazakh production, may have been used in urban Central Asian workshops to decorate ornaments for other patrons as well.

The pair of armbands with sleeves (no. 2014.714.16a, .b) exhibits typical Kazakh stamped decoration in star and solar shapes, here combined with turquoises and carnelians, a design approach found in both Kazakh and Central Asian jewelry workshop production. The sleeves consist of silver latticework netting embellished with delicate ovoid pearls, an unusual choice of material heretofore undocumented in Central Asian and Turkmen ornament. Furthermore, unlike previously known armbands from the area, these works—with graceful hanging sleeves that widen toward the bottom—were intended to be worn on the upper arms. The armbands have a crenellated outline that evokes the tiara-like headbands made in urban workshops, and they may in fact have been part of a parure that included such a headband.

The single armband (no. 2015.648.14) is related to the previous work by its overall conception and the use of pearls in silver netting, although it lacks stamped decoration. Designed to be worn on the forearm, this armband tapers in toward the wrist, as do Turkmen armbands in the Wolf collection. The hinge closing with wire and pins is common to Indian and northern Indian jewelry traditions (see no. 2011.584.10a, .b), but is not found in Turkmen armbands, which feature open backs with tines instead.

The profusion of pearls used in these two works suggests a commission for a wealthy patron, since the gems appear to be rare in jewelry of this region. Pearls were, however, available in Asian and Southeast Asian urban centers. India, because it was a major jewelry production center, was the principal crossroads for both fresh-water and marine pearls from China, Russia, Japan, and the Persian Gulf,[11] and pearls could have reached Central Asia through various merchant trading networks. The use of such precious materials confirms that these armbands were a very special commission, like other luxury objects in the collection, such as the teapot (no. 2005.443.11a, b) and slippers (cat. no. 186 in this volume, Promised Gift of Marshall and Marilyn R. Wolf). Both works are remarkable for their grace and delicacy and were clearly intended to beautify the feminine form.[12]

Layla S. Diba in [Diba 2011]

Footnotes:

11. Clarke, John. Jewellery of Tibet and the Himalayas. London, 2004, p. 38.

12. See p. 37 in this volume for further discussion of this subject.

Marshall and Marilyn R. Wolf, New York (by 2011–2015; gifted to MMA)

Diba, Layla S. "Silver Ornaments from the Marshall and Marilyn R. Wolf Collection." In Turkmen Jewelry. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 160, pp. 200–1, ill. (color).