This delicately wrought necklace composed of hundreds of tiny trefoils and rosettes is one of the oldest pieces of jewelry in the entire Johnson collection. Necklaces like this—that break or contain high levels of gold—often fall prey to the goldsmith’s melting pot, whether to be remade in a new style or to pay bills during times of hardship.
Gold-plated Silver alloy
Necklace
Pair of pendants (xobu gerté)
These pendants may represent the peanut or groundnut, the gathering and selling of which is exclusively a female activity. Any income generated from the sale of groundnuts belongs entirely to the woman, as does any jewelry she may commission or receive as gifts of betrothal and marriage or from mutual aid collectives known as tontines. Naming jewelry inspired by the peanut plant would have been a woman’s responsibility, revealing the collaborative nature of creating jewelry.
Pair of necklace pendants
Bracelet (galbe or lam u teg)
The majority of women in Senegal are Muslim. This monumental bracelet, likely inspired by the Islamic half-moon motif, encompasses granulation, filigree, and twisted wire techniques. The domes, seen on this bracelet and many others in the exhibition, may resemble the tops of mosques.
Bracelet
Beautifully worked, heavy bracelets are highly prized in traditional sañse. Drianké, “women with heavy bracelets,” is a common phrase used to describe prestigious women of beauty and largesse. Accomplished in high style, they dab on perfumed ointments and don grand boubous with matching headscarves, fashionable shoes, and much gold jewelry—paragons of success and sensuality.
Pendant
Originally subordinate to a larger central pendant, this beautiful filigree piece is one of the oldest in the collection and demonstrates the earlier mixture of gold and silver known as urus sasel.
Necklace (bount u sindoné)
For many Senegalese women, the ideal necklace incorporates three pendants—one central component flanked by two complementary, smaller pendants. A string of handmade beads, sometimes with a back pendant attached and worn at the nape of the neck, perfects the ensemble. The central portion of the necklace, known as a kostine, consists of delicate, ornate filigree and requires a great deal of skill and craftsmanship. According to art historian Marian Ashby Johnson, this particular style of necklace is a modified form of the kostine known as a bount u sindoné. A complete necklace with all three components is on display elsewhere in the exhibition.
Butterfly necklace pendant
In order to document historic forms, Johnson often bought jewelry otherwise destined for the goldsmith’s melting pot. This European-inspired butterfly pendant is one such piece and as a result is one of the oldest in the collection.
Necklace of rings and twisted wire
This straightforward style of knotted chains has been around for many years but was especially popular in the 1980s, most likely because of its modest simplicity.
Bracelet
During the 1980s and 1990s, multinational institutions imposed “structural adjustment” programs that caused widespread economic and social dislocation in places like Dakar. Yet, even in times of economic desperation, women’s venerable art of “dressing well” remained an important practice, and informal economies of clothing and jewelry creation expanded. During this time jewelry trends incorporated more openwork and used less gold and more silver.