A gold and gem-set double-headed eagle pendant with seed-pearl necklace, Morocco, 18th century

Private collection, London, acquired from Yossi Benyaminoff, New York, 1979.

This double-headed gem-set eagle pendant necklace stands out for its elegance and regal connotations. Suspended on a seed-pearl necklace composed of multiple strands, the eagle is a symbol of power and representations of double-headed eagles have been used in heraldry closely associated with both the Byzantine and Roman Empires. A similar piece is in the Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens, Paris, and attributed to the seventeenth century, illustrated in V. Gonzalez, Emaux d'al-Andalus et du Maghreb, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1994, no.147, p.194. A similar necklace, also from the collection of Mr Y. Benyaminoff, is illustrated in R. Hasson, Later Islamic Jewellery, Jerusalem, 1987, p.61, no.78.

These pieces belong to a tradition dating back to the seventeenth century "...in which Muslims and Jews participated as both artisans and patrons of each other's art, and in which Jews and Muslims shared paths to spirituality" (V.B. Mann, Morocco, Jews and Art in a Muslim Land, New York, 2000, p.23). Jewellery manufacture was predominantly a Jewish profession, and the craftsmen adapted stylistic elements from a number of Berber and Arab designs. 

Related eagle pendants were sold in these rooms, 9 April 2014, lot 197, 24 April 2013, lot 234, 25 April 2012, lot 655 and 656.