Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)

likely early to mid-1900s

East Africa, probably Harar, Ethiopia, unknown silversmith

Medium

Credit Line

Gift of Raymond A. Silverman 2025.151

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Location

108C African Jewelry and Metalwork

Did You Know?

Silversmiths also made objects for religious and royal use, like crowns and crosses.

Description

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).