Tiznit silver

What it is

This means the silver jewellery that women in the villages of the Anti-Atlas wore: pairs of fibulae with chest ornaments, bangles with enamel and niello, necklaces with amber and coral, diadems, hair rings, pendants and earrings.¹ For men, the dagger serves both as a weapon and as an ornament.²

The most important piece is the pair of fibulae (tizerzai), linked by a chest ornament of broad chains (sisla), in the middle of which hangs a large bead (tagmout) or a case (herz).³ The fibulae hold together, just above the chest, the long cloth draped around the body and shoulders that was the main garment of rural women.⁴ The Encyclopédie berbère describes the fibula of the Maghreb as omega-shaped: a ring with a movable pin, worn in pairs on the shoulders to hold a rectangular cloth, the two pieces usually joined by a chain from the middle of which a case hangs.⁵

Where it comes from

The pieces come from the mountain villages of the Anti-Atlas, for example those of the Ida ou Semlal in the west, the Ida ou Nadif in the centre or the Ammeln around Tafraoute; the form, decoration and technique, especially of the fibulae, became the hallmark of each tribe.⁶ Tiznit, the “capital of silver”, celebrates the craft with the Timizart festival, which took place for the eleventh time in 2023.⁷ According to the Encyclopédie berbère, enamelled jewellery in the Maghreb is confined to three areas, one of them the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, “more precisely Tiznit”.⁸ Tiznit today belongs to the Souss-Massa region, and the Maison de l’Artisan counts Laâyoune, Guelmim and Essaouira, as well as Tiznit, among the centres of silversmithing.⁹

History

According to Grammet, the masters (maâlmin) in Tahala worked full-time, while the smiths in villages such as Tizi Imichioun were farmers as well.¹⁰ At the end of the 15th century, techniques and stylistic forms of Andalusian goldsmithing came from Spain to the south; combined with the country’s geometric patterns, they gave rise to an independent art form.¹¹ The Encyclopédie berbère supports this: the art of enamelling, already known in Vandal and Byzantine times, survived the Middle Ages in Spain and came to North Africa with Andalusian craftsmen, where it held on in remote mountain regions.¹²

Fibulae are attested in Morocco as early as Roman times, in Tamuda near Tetouan and in Volubilis, then mostly as bow fibulae.¹³ For the omega fibula of the Berbers, Camps-Fabrer sees no clear local development and suspects an influence from Spain, leaving open whether it came with the conquest of 711 or later with the Moriscos.¹⁴

What it is made of

Besides silver, the smiths use enamel, glass cabochons, amber, coral, shells and coins.¹⁵ For green and yellow enamel, glass beads from Bohemia or Murano used to be crushed; today a glass flux of sand, red lead, potassium and soda is melted on, to which copper oxide is added for blue, chromium oxide for green and lead chromate for yellow.¹⁶

How it is made

The techniques include repoussé, casting, soldering, engraving and chasing, enamelling, niello and filigree.¹⁷ The enamel, widespread above all in the west and centre of the Anti-Atlas, fills cells made of twisted filigree wire; in niello, a mixture of silver, copper, lead and sulphur is melted into engraved areas and ground down until it remains as a black coating only in the recesses.¹⁸

When

Before the wedding the future husband negotiated the bride price, which included jewellery as well as sheep, goats, cattle and money; the jewellery remained the woman’s property, even after a divorce, and was added to in good years.¹⁹ Amber and coral were traded in the souks at fixed, generally known prices and were therefore regarded as a safe investment.²⁰

How to recognise it

The national labelling strategy of the Ministry of Handicrafts lists silver jewellery from Tiznit among the branches for which collective certification marks are being created; the certificates are awarded to businesses whose samples comply with the rules of use.²¹ In January 2025 the State Secretariat for Handicrafts renewed the mark “Tazerzite” for silver jewellery from the Souss-Massa region with OMPIC.²² At the Musée national de la parure in the Kasbah of the Oudayas in Rabat, reopened on 9 January 2023 after renovation, the permanent exhibition is devoted to jewellery; the collection was enlarged with Amazigh jewellery from the personal collection of King Mohammed VI أيده الله (may Allah assist him).²³