We have a vast collection of images here which have been shared over the years ...
Click on an image to see the discussions around the piece.
Enjoy!
You need to be a member of Ethnic Jewels to add comments!
Request your copy of our newsletter.
If you would like to receive our newsletter
Comments
I'm happy to see this stuff posted. Not too many on sight pay attention to the more tribal adornment. this is interesting as I have not seen one of this style before.
Thanks Linda! Although I love all the things people have been posting lately, I thought it was time for something a bit different. I like these Basotho pieces because they are a sort of outsider art among ethnic jewelry. I was in Lesotho for a couple of years, but unfortunately one can no longer find such pieces outside the museum. I think they were all either recycled or taken elsewhere by Europeans years ago. One can still find a few mid-century items in South African galleries. I did but a couple of Xhosa pieces in South Africa, and I found some new Basotho items in the traditional style in Lesotho. The collection at the Morija Museum, however, is very enlightening and gives one a sense of items that have disappeared.
brilliant, i can only try to figure how this was worn and what effect it had on the aesthtic of the body, probably reminiscent of the much more common large flat beaded discs of the massai!
Yes, I would imagine that this looks a bit like those beaded Masai pieces in terms of the lines when worn. I never saw anyone wearing such a piece when I was there. The King of Lesotho usually turns up at official events wearing denim jeans, locally made button-front shirt and a blanket. This piece was collected by a French missionary 100 years ago.