Bridal belt
Angola, Ovambo
sold
EUR 1,600
Provenance
Northern German Private Collection, collected in situ in the 1950’s during employment of the collector with Woermann, HamburgSize
L: 68 cm
L: 26.8 inch
Description
leather, ivory, red pigment, leather band, sewn with six “omakipas” of variable shape and size (oval, pyramidal, square), min. dam., fine cracks through age;
the number of “omakipa” badges a young man gave his fiancée depended on his wealth and the number of cows he owned. Even the incised patterns had a special meaning.