KHA30 - SIGNED - Antique Yemenite Bowsani Silver Wheel Granule Bead - 20 mm (1)

Description

Antique Yemenite Silver Filigree Wheel Granule Bead
Quantity:
1 Piece
Size:
20 mm x 13 mm
Origin:
Sana'a, Yemen
Year:
1900-1930
Gorgeous silver filigree granule bead was handmade by the indigenous Yemenite Jewish Bowsani family of silversmiths. The Bowsani were considered the top master silversmiths of Yemen. They produced some of the most amazing silver filigree jewelry and pieces of artwork well ahead of their time. The last pieces produced were in the early 1900's and estimating the end of Yemenite Jewish silver filigree workmanship by 1948, when Yemen's Jewish community immigrated en masse to Israel, ending a thousand year old Yemenite tradition of filigree work.
Due to lack of appreciation for Yemenite jewelry in Israel, the craft officially came to an end with the last Bowsani silversmith passing away in 2004 in Israel, at 109 years old and with him the great Bowsani art of silver filigree making. Thankfully, before the Jews immigrated to Israel, the Imam (king) of Yemen decreed that all Jewish crafts be taught to the local Yemenite Arabs, where some continued the great works of the Bowsani family of silversmiths to this day. The art form is still alive and continuously thriving owing great gratitude to the Bowsani silversmiths knowledge in the art and the Yemenite King's important decree.
The piece is signed: Salem (Shalom) (Bowsani) Pure (Silver).
Please view pictures for all details and condition.