W x D x L: 3.9 x 0.5 x 47.1 cm (1 9/16 x 3/16 x 18 9/16 in.)
Type:
Jewelry
Geography:
Senegal
Date:
1950s-1970s
Label Text:
This necklace was created for a less affluent woman or someone experiencing hardship during the economic decline of the 1990s. Its construction uses only one type of filigree (m’beg bu sayo), a small quantity of gold, and more openwork than typically seen in older, more conventional jewelry. After the 1990s, this became the contemporary technique employed in modern filigree work.
Description:
Gold-plated silver alloy necklace, in a variation on the basket of flowers design, consisting of a central triagular pendant of twisted wire and openwork and flanked by smaller half circle pendants of twisted wire and openwork design; five on either side of the central pendant. Hook-and-eye closure.
Provenance:
Marian Johnson, purchased in Dakar, Senegal, 1963-late 20th century to 2012
Exhibition History:
Good As Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 24, 2018-February 2, 2020; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, September 16, 2020-January 3, 2021
Published References:
Maples, Amanda, Ashby Johnson, Marian, and Dumouchelle, Kevin D., 2018, Good As Gold, Washington, D.C.: NMAfA, Smithsonian, illustrated p. 80
Content Statement:
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