The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Itjorholo/ijogolo (married woman’s apron)

c. 1935

Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Ndebele-style maker

Goatskin, grass, glass beads
Overall: 69.8 x 50.8 cm (27 1/2 x 20 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2022.256
Location: 108B Southern African

Did You Know?

The designs on this itjorholo (beaded apron) reference architecture. An “H-shape” motif represents a homestead’s floor plan; triangles may be interpreted as a roof; and horizontal bands suggest compound walls.

Description

This itjorholo (beaded apron) represents the social status and future aspirations of a married Ndebele woman. Before a wedding, bridegrooms gift an undecorated hide apron to their fiancée. Following the marriage, the new bride or her mother-in-law embellish it with imported glass beads. The five large lappets or “calves” reference future children, while the smaller flanking lappets indicate the wearer already had children. The colorful motif suggests the paintings Ndebele women make on the exterior walls of their homestead compounds.
  • ca. 1970s–1980s
    Suzanne Priebatsch & Natalie Knight, South Africa
    2/7/2000
    (Knight Galleries International, Toronto, Canada (Natalie [Knight] Liknaitzky & Julian Liknaitzky), sold to Gary van Wyk & Lisa Brittan
    2000–2022
    Gary van Wyk & Lisa Brittan, West Orange, NJ, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2022–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Stepan, Peter, John William Gabriel, and Elizabeth Schwaiger. Africa. Munich: Prestel, 2001. pp. 60–61 www.worldcat.org
  • {{cite web|title=Itjorholo/ijogolo (married woman’s apron)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1935|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.256