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.