Old Moorish Bracelet – KHAL KHAL – West Africa

Mid 20th century. Silver gr. 59,2 (2.10 oz.); cm. 6,7 width x cm. 6,3 high (2.63″ x 2.48″); inner diameter cm 6,5 (2.55″). The central talisman is cm. 3,0 x cm 3,2 (1.18″ x 1.25″).

The Guedra is a ritual dance of love, performed by women for benefit of men. It is a ballet of hands and feet: sometimes the dancer stands, but more often she squats, covered in a black weil which revels only the complex movements of her hennaed hands and feet. The henna designs focus attention on the hands and feet and are of protective significance.

For similar examples:

• “Spledeurs du Maroc”, Africa Museum, Tervuren (p. 334-335);
• “Africa Adorned”, by Angela Fisher (p. 220);
• “Ornamenti del corpo – Gioielli di una Collezione”, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze (p. 47);
• “A Word of Bracelets”, by Anne van Cutsem, Skira (p. 35).

1017