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Necklace (amazipho)
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineNecklace (amazipho), 1800s. Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Southeast Cape Region, Northern Nguni (Zulu)-style maker. Glass beads, bone, and sinew; overall: 38.1 cm (15 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dori and Daniel Rootenberg in memory of Estelle Rosenberg, 2010.231
