Necklace with pendant (waqari or wakari?)

Ornate filigree jewelry was historically made in Ethiopia for royals and nobility by specialized silversmiths trained through long apprenticeships. This elaborate pendant necklace (waqari) probably made and worn in the Muslim city of Harar. Muslim women wore such massive jewelry, which holds aesthetic links to nearby Yemen. Its half-moon pendant is a protective crescent shape and its upper filigreed capsule is an amulet. The crescent symbol has existed as a talismanic form in Ethiopia since the Aksumite Empire (1–700s CE).