Skip Navigation

Collar (Ingqosha)

Arts of Africa

This necklace would have been worn by a young man along with an ensemble of other necklaces, belts, and head, arm, and leg bands as an indication of his new adult status, following circumcision. Visually setting off the head from the rest of the torso, it would have provided a background for other beaded neck ornaments.
MEDIUM Glass seed beads, sinew
DATES early 20th century
DIMENSIONS Lower curve length: 27 x 5 in. (68.6 x 12.7 cm) Upper curve: 15 in. (38.1 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
ACCESSION NUMBER 66.86.14
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Blum
PROVENANCE Prior to 1966, provenance not yet documented; by February 1966, acquired by Jerome W. Blum and Dorothy Brill Blum (Mrs. Jerome Blum) of Scarsdale, NY; June 15, 1966, gift of Jerome W. Blum and Dorothy Brill Blum to the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Flat color type neck ornament of woven beadwork, composed of twisted double strands joined by three-bead vertical units. Beaded in bands of colors involving a system of solid colors with borders. Edged with larger greyish white beads. Shirt button and loop closing. Red brown sinew used in beading. Technique: flat single-face.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Xhosa (Thembu subgroup). Collar (Ingqosha), early 20th century. Glass seed beads, sinew, Lower curve length: 27 x 5 in. (68.6 x 12.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Blum, 66.86.14. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 66.86.14_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 66.86.14_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.