Necklace help, Bone and carved?

Hi all Hope your week is going well. I picked this up at my favorite thrift. I'm pretty sure the links are bone. The pendant is
2 1/4" x 1 3/4" Dome shaped, Translucent, Please don't tell me a little turtle shell?
Mikey

 

I don’t have any answers for you, my apologies - but it’s quite beautiful! I had to stop and get a closer look.

*fingers crossed that it’s not a wee turtle

 

It's really hard to make out from the photos what any of it is. However, I think the pendant is just an oval segment of whatever it is & not the complete carapace of a small turtle. Is it translucent?

 

I hope it's cow horn out to fool us, but I fear Bronwyn is right.

 

It’s late and I’m only on my iPad, but on blowing it up as much as I could, I thought it looked like wood on the back!! LOVE the Foxy looking design on the front, but can’t really tell what the white ‘pieces’ are made of…… some teeth, half pearls, bone????……all very shiny……but it’s a LOVELY PIECE!!!!

 

My impression too, hence the question about translucence. Could be horn.

 

Dot painting? Bone?

 

Australian indigenous people's art. I can't find that exact one, but the dots are typical.

 

Central Australian Aborigines use stippling rather than pitting.
The fox is not indigenous to Australia, and a threat to native wildlife, so not a subject of indigenous art. They'd rather see it exterminated.

Very elegant fox though, and my vote is for bone.

 

I did mention that it is translucent. With light shined through It does look like tortoise shell.
Mikey

 

If it helps this Thrift store is Russian owned and most of the customers are too.
Mikey

 

UH OH, @Bronwen won't be happy

 

If I am seeing it correctly the dots are concaved and so carved down to the cream color of the bone maybe the brown is stained.

 

Carved then painted white enamel.
Does bone have the red cloudy streaks?
Mikey

 

My guess would be bone for the beads/segments, and cow horn for the pendant (based on the curved shape, the translucent, variegated color, and the texture visible on the back).

 

Here are some more pics. These are with it sitting on a flashlight. The only way i could figure out how to take a picture showing what i see.
Mikey

The carving lights up when it is on the back.

A close up of the front sorry for the glare..

 

That last closeup looks almost like tagua nut, but the curved, dark colored back wouldn't be expected if it was tagua.

 

Maybe the animal is some type of civet, which would suggest an African or South Asian origin. (I was hoping for a binturong because I like the name, but they have bushier tails.)

Looks much more like horn than tortoise shell. Water buffalo maybe.

I often have depth perception problems with photos. Are some of the white dots actually raised, like little inset beads & smaller ones engraved? Or everything engraved?

Think the basic material is brown, possibly dyed, & the design incised/engraved then brought out with paint.

A little bit similar:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/935191...uery=buffalo+horn+pendant&ref=sr_gallery-1-12

 

The design and subject look modern to me. Fox being very popular these days.( I confess to collecting them myself!)