Beaded neck ornament of a triple strand of cloth covered with red beads, one strand with a green bead fringe.

Collection type: Object
Description: Beaded neck ornament of a triple strand of cloth covered with red beads, one strand with a green bead fringe.
Geographical reference: South Africa
Africa > Southern Africa > South Africa
Cultural groups: Zulu
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector William Augustus Lane Fox-Pitt; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Possibly before 1881
Date collected: ?Prior to 1881
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Bead, Material Textile, Process Beadwork, Process Twisted, Process Strung, Process Woven
Dimensions: Length: max 360 mm doubled
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.76.4 PR no.: 202/ 12099
Associated publications: This object was featured in the Museum’s ‘web gallery’ (‘Selected Objects from the Lower Gallery’) produced during the DCF-funded ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project, 2004–2006, with the following caption: ‘In South Africa, Zulu people marked important stages in their lives by wearing different coloured beads. When a girl fell in love with a man, she made him a bead necklace, and made herself a matching set of bead jewellery. This Zulu neck ornament was collected by William Augustus Lane Fox-Pitt, who was Pitt Rivers’s third son. He fought in the Zulu wars and donated the objects he acquired to his father.

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