Ndebele Beaded Collar South Africa Sidley Collection

A beautiful beaded collar in the form of a circular ring nicely decorated with tiny black glass beads.

The Ndebele of South Africa are superb bead workers. The women used to wear brass rings around their necks and legs. A few still do, but most now have gold plastic replicas with Velcro, worn on ceremonial occasions. They wear heavily beaded aprons decorated in geometric designs similar to those used to paint their houses. They wear beaded blankets like large shawls, and beadwork on their arms, ankles, and heads.

Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 1 inch

Provenance: Niña Sidley Collection

After a long career in publishing, Niña Sidley returned to her first love: collecting the art, artifacts, and textiles of the world’s indigenous peoples. Part of her mission has been to educate others and to honor the extraordinary creativity, ingenuity, and heartfelt messages these handmade works send from their makers. Niña believes this deep respect for tradition and beauty inspires and ties all of us together as one world.

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