page_title: Yemenite silversmithing
section_title: Labbe necklaces
hierarchical_section_title: Yemenite silversmithing / Style and silver content / Labbe necklaces
caption_attribution_description: English: Necklace. Made in San'a, Yemen, 20th century. Gilt silver filigree, granulation, copyrighted by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and photographed by David Harris (Hebrew: דוד חריס)
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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.
  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. Only a few were made from silver. 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. 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.
  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. 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.
caption: Barley-grain Labbe Necklace, Gilt silver filigree, granulation (20th-century)
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