Hair ornament

The cross is a widely used form with numerous stylistic influences. The cross style of hair ornament is rumored to have originated from a late 18th-century pendant made for the wife of a Bamana king. Its form, however, also shows similarities to both the Coptic cross and the designs of nomadic Tuareg artisans, whose travel on Saharan trade routes along with salt, gold, and camels connected eastern, northern, and western Africa. When small ornaments in the shape of a cross (san u sébé) are worn in the hair, they are called trefle or argane, although some women prefer to wear them as pendants.

Gold-plated silver alloy, hollow, three armed cross hair ornament with curved and granulated arms and central, applied X shaped elements. A central square pyramid projects and is decorated in circles of wire and granulation. The pyramid is flat on top. The top rectangular bar is decorated with a row of six rosettes and granulation, and has a hole pierced through it to allow for being attached to hair or a cord. Hammered flat back with three pierced holes.

Marian Johnson, purchased in Dakar, Senegal, 1963-late 20th century 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

Maples, Amanda, Ashby Johnson, Marian, and Dumouchelle, Kevin D., 2018, Good As Gold, Washington, D.C.: NMAfA, Smithsonian, illustrated p. 11

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