The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2026

A silver necklace features a long, twisted rope chain and an intricate pendant. A horizontal cylinder, textured with tiny metal spheres, sits above a crescent-shaped frame inset with a faceted red glass stone. From the cylinder and the lower edge of the crescent, clusters of small leaf-shaped charms and silver beads hang on delicate loops, creating a layered, dangling fringe.

Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)

likely early to mid-1900s

East Africa, probably Harar, Ethiopia, unknown silversmith

silver alloy, glass
Gift of Raymond A. Silverman 2025.151
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).
  • –c. 2000
    Unknown Ethiopian Vendor/Shop
    c. 2000–2025
    Dr. Raymond Silverman
    2025
    The Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Silver, Gold, and Gems: A Spotlight on Jewelry Across Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 7, 2025-December 6, 2026).
  • {{cite web|title=Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)|url=false|author=|year=likely early to mid-1900s|access-date=07 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.151