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Loincloth (umutsha)

Museum Ulm Project for the reappraisal of the collections from colonial contexts [1923.5242b]
Lendengürtel (Umutsha) (Museum Ulm CC BY-NC-SA)
Provenance/Rights: Museum Ulm / Oleg Kuchar (CC BY-NC-SA)
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Description

A loincloth whose core is built by four parallel, tied together strands, which consist of a compressed fabric that is wrapped with threads. Threads on which red, black, green and white glass pearls are strung in sections, bundle the fabric. On the black sections, additionally bigger pink pearls are inserted. On the top edge of the belt, there is a "crown" from short pearl strings with light yellow and red pearls. Below the girdle the rectangular covering part is attached. It consists of a pearl braiding with a red, white, green and black zigzag pattern and a yellow border. At one end of the belt is a conical brass button that was part of the fastener. The further buttons and the loops for the fastening are not preserved anymore.

Among the Zulu loincloths that are called "umutsha" are in general worn by women and men. However, the forms of the loincloths vary depending on age and sex. According to the inventory, a girl wore this object. Such belts with a small, rectangular part that covers the pubes ("isigeke") is a typical form. The style of the loincloth and the patterns and colours of the bead-work make use of a complex symbolic system and express i. a. social relations or messages.

In 1923, Max Hößle committed the object, as part of a collection, to the Gewerbemuseum (Museum of Applied Arts) Ulm. Ulrich Hößle compiled the collection around 1880 in South Africa in the region of Pietermaritzburg in the present province of KwaZulu-Natal. The territory then belonged to the British Colony of Natal.

Material/Technique

Glass, brass, textile, plant fibre; knotting, sewing

Measurements

L 86 cm, W 5,5 cm (belt); H 10,5 cm, W 19 cm (covering part)

Museum Ulm

Object from: Museum Ulm

Das Museum Ulm bietet mehr als 30 000 Jahre Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, präsentiert in 7 Gebäuden, u.a. in einem Kaufmannshaus der Renaissance sowie...

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