Choker

Especially popular with Tukulor women of Senegal during the 1970s and 1990s, the throat ornament on this choker originated among the Peul, Bamana, Songhai, Sarakole, and Wolof communities of Mali, Guinea, and Senegal. The ornament itself may be ancient; a similar form was noted by historian Al-Bakri in the 11th century. It was once worn on a simple leather or fiber cord, but later versions, such as this, are secured by a much more elaborate choker and attest to the longevity and maneuverability of the design.

Gold-plated silver alloy choker necklace of quatrefoil pendant surmounted by a flower. The pendant is hollow, constructed of hammered flat sheet metal decorated with a tiered flower, filigreed leaves and four spheres, all decorated with granulation and twisted wire. Four teardrop shaped holes are pierced into each of the arms of the quatrefoil, top and bottom. The chain is wide and constructed from twisted wire bent into loops and soldered together with flat discs. The twisted wire chain loops are 4 wide by 3 flat discs. Two smaller quatrefoils flank the central quatrefoil and are decorated with hammered flat circular discs and concentric circles of twisted wire. The proper right quatrefoil has "1972" in twisted wire applied on top of the other designs. Hook-and-eye closure.

Marian Johnson, purchased in Dakar, Senegal, 1963-1972 to 2012

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

African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2013–August 12, 2019 (installed June 12, 2015-August 1, 2017)

Maples, Amanda, Ashby Johnson, Marian, and Dumouchelle, Kevin D., 2018, Good As Gold, Washington, D.C.: NMAfA, Smithsonian, illustrated p. 35

Johnson, Marian Ashby. 1994. "Gold jewelry of the Wolof and the Tukulor of Senegal." African Arts 27 (1), p. 41, no. 10.

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