Enquiry about object: 4259
Naga Bead & Bone Belt or Girdle
Naga People, India/Burma 19th century
length (approx): 67cm, width: 15.5cm, weight: 517g
Provenance
private collection, London.
This beaded belt or girdle with etched bone ends would have been worn over a short skirt by a Naga woman, probably of the Konyak group.
It comprises dozens of strands of red, blue and other coloured glass beads that most probably were manufactured in India.
Such belts with all the beads they required were displays of status and wealth.
Jacobs (1990, p. 308) illustrates several related examples.
The belt is in excellent condition – there are no discernible losses and the threading is robust and stable.
References
Daalder, T., Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment: Australia, Oceania, Asia, Africa, Ethnic Art Press/Macmillan, 2009.
Jacobs, J., The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India, Thames & Hudson, 1990.
Shilu, A., Naga Tribal Adornment: Signatures of Status and Self, The Bead Museum, Washington, 2003.
Untracht, O., Traditional Jewelry of India, Thames & Hudson, 1997.
