Cleveland Museum of Art

Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)

Date

likely early to mid-1900s

Medium

silver alloy, glass

Culture

East Africa, probably Harar, Ethiopia, unknown silversmith

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Ornate filigree jewelry was historically made in Ethiopia for royals and nobility by specialized silversmiths trained through long apprenticeships. This elaborate pendant necklace ( waqari) probably made and worn in the Muslim city of Harar. Muslim women wore such massive jewelry, which holds aesthetic links to nearby Yemen. Its half-moon pendant is a protective crescent shape and its upper filigreed capsule is an amulet. The crescent symbol has existed as a talismanic form in Ethiopia since the Aksumite Empire (1–700s CE). Silversmiths also made objects for religious and royal use, like crowns and crosses.

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