Tharaka Bag SB.1.155

Tharaka Bag SB.1.155 Bag. Kamba. Tharaka. Kenya. No 14. XIV.J.1. Original list: “Tharaka. Bag. Plant fiber, beads, buttons, aluminum. Woman”. Braided vegetable cord pocket, decorated, on only one side, with white buttons, aluminum bells and blue, white and red pearls, structured in vertical bands. The pocket is also flanked by two ornamental fringes in leather, to which is attached a leather strap whose looped ends are reinforced by an iron ring. About a similar object published by the Seattle Art Museum in 1986: “Basket weaving is one of the most valuable domestic skills among the Gikuyu and Kamba peoples of central Kenya (…). The small object illustrated here is a special type of Kamba basket known as noung’a. (…) it is pouchlike in form, with a flap top that is decorated with bells, cowrie shells, buttons and chains. Often described as a wedding basket, it was traditionally a dowry item that a bride brought to hang as an ornament on a post near her husband’s bed “(EC Burt. Seattle Art Museum. 1985: 14) Category: Bag Material: Plant fiber. Glass beads. Buttons. mineral material. Aluminum. Location: Kenya Size in Centimeters: Length: 28 Width: 14 Height: 8