Object Details
Maker
Tukulor artist
Label Text
This gold necklace with central, hollow biconical pendant is rendered in delicate and tightly packed granulation in geometric motif. Great skill is needed to create a necklace such as this, and it takes many years to master the granulation and filigree techniques it incorporates. Amongst the Tukulor, the biconical necklace is known as a "corval" or "korwal," but the design has a much further reach, and is popular amongst the Peul, Wolof, Sonrai, Sarakole and the Bamana. Some of the finest, such as this, are made by Peul or Tukulor smiths, and are highly prized, particularly by wealthier women.
The form itself may be traced back to the Middle East, making its way to West Africa via the trans-Saharan trade perhaps as long as one thousand years ago. However, a similar ornament of copper was found in El Oualedji (Mali) in a tomb dated between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, and other biconical forms have appeared in Morocco, Ephesus (ca. 8th century B.C.), and as far flung as India. Its hollow composition hints at the potential for use as a receptacle for charms or perfumes, but this is rarely seen in other hollow Senegalese jewelry forms.
Description
Gold-plated silver alloy necklace of hollow double or biconical and spherical beads with a large, central biconical pendent, heavily decorated with granulation, filigree and a row of small applied globules at its circumference in geometric patterns. Holes are pierced through the surface in triangular and half-circles and surrounded by twisted wire. The smaller bicones and spheres are similarly decorated with granulation, and pierced with holes, in groupings of three (spheres) and lines of five (bicones). The spheres and bicones alternate and are connected by links of twisted wire chain, folded over.
Provenance
Marian Johnson, purchased in Dakar, Senegal, 1963-late 20th century to 2012
Exhibition History
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
Published References
Maples, Amanda, Ashby Johnson, Marian, and Dumouchelle, Kevin D., 2018, Good As Gold, Washington, D.C.: NMAfA, Smithsonian, p. 81, illustrated p. 83
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Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Marian Ashby Johnson
Date
Late 19th-early 20th century
Object number
2012-18-9
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Jewelry
Medium
Gold-plated silver alloy
Dimensions
L: 87.9 cm (34 5/8 in.)
Main Bicone Pendant: 4.7 x 7.1 x 4.7 cm (1 13/16 x 2 13/16 x 1 13/16 in.)
Geography
Senegal
Mali
See more items in
National Museum of African Art Collection
Data Source
National Museum of African Art
Topic
Adornment
Female use
geometric motif
male
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmafa_2012-18-9