Waistband with brass button fastening.
Glass beads imported from Europe, especially from Venice and Amsterdam, were used throughout Africa and particularly in Southern Africa as currency and adornment for many centuries. This collection of beadwork is from the Zulu tribal group in Southern Africa. Round beadwork is characteristically Zulu. A roll of fabric is used as a foundation and beads strung on a continuous thread are wound round the roll. Beads must be threaded exactly in order to form the required pattern. These beaded rolls may be armbands, neckbands or waist belts.
Colours of the beads have different meanings and the beadwork forms part of the courtship system among the Zulu conveying messages of sorrow, love, anxiety, longing for home etc
