Waistband with Fringe

19th century

Southern and eastern Africa has a wide-ranging history of beadwork used for personal ornamentation. Unlike most of the art displayed in these galleries, the three objects in this case are nonrepresentational (though they carry explicit and implicit social meanings) and were made by women. The trade in beads flourished in South Africa after 1830. The newfound availability of glass beads diminished their value as status objects but stimulated the development of new forms of personal adornment, including this waistband worn by a young woman in the period between initiation and marriage.