Cleveland Museum of Art

Necklace (amazipho)

Date

1800s

Medium

Glass beads, bone, and sinew

Culture

Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Southeast Cape Region, Northern Nguni (Zulu)-style maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

When wild game was still plentiful in the region, real animal claws would have been used to punctuate beaded prestige necklaces. Lion-claw necklaces were the exclusive property of royalty while the bone imitations were owned and worn by high-ranking individuals of lesser status. Large red glass beads were also reserved for the Nguni elite in the period before the destruction of the Zulu kingdom in 1879. Large red glass beads like the ones in this necklace were reserved for the Nguni elite.

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