This is an example of a head ornament worn by Kabyle women chiefly at the time of marriage. It was made in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Kabyle are a Berber people from North Eastern Algeria. The head dress is made up of silver plates linked together and is decorated with enamelled filigree and set with corals. Silver was seen as a symbol of purity and honesty and rural Kabyle communities preferred it to gold which they regarded as a sign of vice. As well as representing baraka (good luck), coral was believed to enhance fertility and was therefore an important part of a women's wedding costume.

This head dress was probably made by a Jewish silversmith as the Berbers thought working with metal was an inferior occupation. The filigree technique used here was introduced to North Africa in the late fifteenth century by Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Europe. Jewish silversmiths dominated jewellery making in North Africa until the late nineteenth century.