Collection record · Small worlds
Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)
The collection record classifies this work as jewelry. It is dated likely early to mid-1900s. Recorded culture or place: East Africa, probably Harar, Ethiopia, unknown silversmith.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)
- Date
- likely early to mid-1900s
- Culture / origin
- East Africa, probably Harar, Ethiopia, unknown silversmith
- Materials and technique
- silver alloy, glass
- Dimensions
- Not specified by the museum
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2025.151
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
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).
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Raymond A. Silverman · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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