If there is one thing I'd love for my Critical Eye endeavor to do, it would be to inspire people to look closely at, and find interest and beauty in, a very wide variety of things; for me, death (or at least great boredom) would be focusing on one particular sort of thing, or things from one particular place or period, when there is so much wonderful out there. And also, I think the wider one's orbit of looking, the more one sees connections among them, cross-influences and cultural exchange manifesting in material form.
Anyway, this I believe is a beaded African dance apron from the Tonga/Tsonga culture of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, c. 1900 or so, which I believe would have been made by and ceremonially worn by a woman. From what I have gleaned, the colors and patterns are symbolic, the white relating to ancestor spirits, and the dark blue likely connected to water (as I understand it the Tonga practiced a rain cult.) I find the beadwork just stunning and the design/pattern itself very full of optical movement. And then this gorgeous, beautifully aged indigo to which to it was sewn, like the softest, most worn denin, with a few small holes that reveal another layer with small printed patten underneath. A beautiful thing which I just can't stop looking out.
11 1/4" x 8 1/8" closed. Opens to 12" x 11 1/4". I believe there once would have been ties attached to the sides to wear it as shown in first photo. Very good antique condition with just the most minor beadloss along the bottom edge--completely stable, nothing loose, and not at all fragile.
Beading on denim - African bead work Dance apron Early 20th century 112171 An African bead work piece of the Tonga people of Zimbabwe, Dance apron, 70 -100 years old ,
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