The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 6, 2023

Necklace (amazipho)

1800s

Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Southeast Cape Region, Northern Nguni (Zulu)-style maker

Glass beads, bone, and sinew

Overall: 38.1 cm (15 in.)

Gift of Dori and Daniel Rootenberg in memory of Estelle Rosenberg 2010.231

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Large red glass beads like the ones in this necklace were reserved for the Nguni elite.

Description

When wild game was still plentiful in the region, real animal claws would have been used to punctuate beaded prestige necklaces. Lion-claw necklaces were the exclusive property of royalty while the bone imitations were owned and worn by high-ranking individuals of lesser status. Large red glass beads were also reserved for the Nguni elite in the period before the destruction of the Zulu kingdom in 1879.

Provenance
Nelly Van den Abbeele, Brussels; Christie's, Paris, 2003; Axis Gallery, New York, 2003 to 2005
Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa" cat. no. 67

The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southern Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 17, 2011-February 26, 2012).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.231