FEZ, 18TH

The lebba was a very important part of a Moroccan bride's adornment. The motif of the rarnati (pomegranates, conceived in the form of a lily) is a recurrent motif in Moroccan urban jewellery of the period. Here, each of the pendants are composed of inverted rarnati encrusted with gemstones which sparkle like ripe seeds. The associations of the pomegranate with fertility and plenty are well-known; furthermore, the juice of the pomegranate was also said to protect against the evil eye. Similar lebbas are known composed either of nine or seven pendants. A very similar example to the present was in the Benyaminoff Collection, exhibited at the Israel Museum and then sold at Sotheby's, 17 October 1997, lot 52 (Rachel Hasson, Later Islamic Jewellery, Jerusalem, 1987, pp.62-3, no.79). In the catalogue note to that lot, it is said that a similar necklace was in the collection of Madame Elsa Schiaparelli, one of the most famous avant-garde fashion designers of the first half of the 20th century, where it was published in American Vogue, 15 August 1941. For another lebba included in this sale, and a list of examples, pleas see the following lot.