Ring

Tiny refined hair ornaments are abundant, catching many an eye as they, like the women who wore them, beamed in the light. As part of a well-executed performance of sañse, a woman’s gleaming jewelry reminds observers that she was not only well respected and beautiful, but had the means and the social networks to carry off such a display of splendor.

Hollow gilt silver (gold wash) ring of openwork filigree design. The back is flattened sheet metal with attached convex filigree design in half circles, hook shapes and teardrops filled with twisted wire curly q's. Attached to a plain band.

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

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