Object Details
- Label Text
- 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.
- Description
- Gold-plated silver alloy flower pendants with filigree leaves and large circular flower heads with smaller filigree petals. Some granulation and circles of twisted wire adorn the leaves, placed on top of the filigree. Open circles at both ends of the flowers are for attachment to a necklace and to complement a larger pendant.
- 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. 64, illustrated p. 67
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Unidentified artist
- Date
- 1910s-1920s
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dr. Marian Ashby Johnson
- Medium
- Gold-plated silver alloy
- Dimensions
- A: 3.6 x 1.8 x 0.7 cm (1 3/8 x 11/16 x 1/4 in.)
- B: 3.6 x 1.9 x 0.7 cm (1 7/16 x 3/4 x 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Jewelry
