
Year: collected in the 1950s
Style: Zulu, Mawosi clan
Origin: Bergville, ZKN, South Africa
Medium: Coth, fiber, glass beads
Size: 40 1/2 x 32 3/4 in.
Accession Number: 2000.48
Gift of William D. and Norma Canelas Roth
Woman's Wedding Cape or Apron
African, Unknown ()
Part of the African Art Collection

This heavily beaded cape is a Zulu bride’s prized possession. Prior to the wedding, a Zulu bride’s female relatives make a cape for her. Older relatives such as mothers and grandmothers generally bead the more traditional white beaded panels and younger relatives may bead more colorful bands.