The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Under apron (iinkciya)

Under apron (iinkciya)

1800s–1900s
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Women made beaded "aprons" like this to wear under their clothes on festive occasions in the nineteenth century; expensive imported beads were a sign of wealth and status.

Description

This is an exquisite example of a rare type of swallowtail-shaped apron worn by young female initiates until the mid-19th century. On the upper portion, the black beads were applied in such a way that they can be read as a human face or even as a full figure. In fact, the overall form of the apron can be viewed as representing the lower torso and legs of a woman with a neatly marked pubic region.
  • dates unknown
    Maurice Joy, London, England
    2006
    Kevin Conru, Brussels, Belgium
    2010
    (Jacaranda Tribal Art Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2010–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 41
    Rondeau, James, Constantijn Petridis, Yaëlle Biro, Herbert M. Cole, Kassim Kone, Babatunde Lawal, Wilfried Van Damme, and Susan Mullin Vogel. The language of beauty in African art. 2022.
  • The Language of Beauty in African Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (April 3-July 31, 2022) https://kimbellart.org/exhibition/language-beauty-african-art; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (November 20, 2022-February 27, 2023) https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9344/the-language-of-beauty-in-african-art.
    The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southern Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 17, 2011-February 26, 2012).
    Cleveland Museum of Art, (4/16/11-2/26/12); "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa" cat. no. 72
  • {{cite web|title=Under apron (iinkciya)|url=false|author=|year=1800s–1900s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.206