On view
African Art
Belt (umutsha),
late 19th–early 20th century
Artist unrecorded
Sotho
2019-10
In Sotho communities, beadwork was created by women and considered a form of personal expression. This belt consists of tightly coiled grass covered with fabric and beads. A matching apron attached to the belt was worn by the woman, usually married, around the front of her waist for modesty. The pink, green, and black colors and distinctive patterning identify this belt as being produced in the southern Drakensberg region of South Africa. The use of sinew rather than thread to attach the beads to both the belt and apron dates them to the early twentieth century or earlier.
Information
Title
Belt (umutsha)
Dates
late 19th–early 20th century
Maker
Medium
Glass beads, sinew, and fiber
Dimensions
6.3 × 69.2 cm (2 1/2 × 27 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund
Object Number
2019-10
Place Made
Africa, South Africa, Southern Drakensberg region
Subject
Mme. Nelly Van Den Abbeele; [Christie’s, Paris, June 12, 2003]; [purchased via the above auction by Axis Gallery, New Jersey, June 12, 2003]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 2019.
