H x W x D: 15.5 x 19.8 x 20.0 cm (6 1/8 x 7 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Type:
Textile and Fiber Arts
Geography:
South Africa
Date:
Late 20th century
Label Text:
This raised, pillbox-style Zulu beaded hat, or isicholo, is worn exclusively by married women. It is made largely of non-plant fiber that is coiled and stitched, then encircled with a detachable glass beadwork panel that is secured with fiber strings to the back of the hat. The prominent use of white glass beads, contrasting with multicolored chevron-and-diamond designs and the use of metallic-colored beads, is characteristic of the Shembe Church sect founded in South Africa in 1911. Members of the Shembe Church wear specific dress that denotes their church affiliation. This includes distinctive beadwork that the church encourages women to make for sale, usually to other church members, as a way to supplement their income. This pillbox-style isicholo is based on the more traditional columnar version (see 2001-6-1 in the collection); both styles take their form from a coiffure worn by married Zulu women in the nineteenth century. This hat illustrates both continuity and change in hat making materials and technologies, and it demonstrates modifications in contexts of use, adapting a hat style formerly worn on secular occasions to a church context that continues as a vital part of Zulu life today.
Description:
Columnar or raised pillbox-style hat, made largely of non-plant fiber that is coiled and stitched. The hat is encircled with a detachable glass beadwork panel composed of a broad field of white glass beads, two chevron designs of alternating strands of black, copper and green/multi glass beads, and a central beaded pattern composed of two blue and two silver-grey beaded diamond designs. It is attached by fiber strings to the back of the hat.
Provenance:
Tshengiswe Nxcumalo, Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, late 1980s-1990s to 2000
Gary van Wyk and Lisa Brittan, Axis Gallery, New York, 2000 to 2001
Exhibition History:
Ubuhle Beautiful Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence, Anacostia Community Museum, Washington, D.C., December 8, 2013-January 4, 2015
Content Statement:
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