showing 1 results matching medium:"Fibers, leather, beads, cowrie shells, cloth"
Basket, early 20th century
Unknownexpand_more
Fibers, leather, beads, cowrie shells, clothexpand_more
The Mary Ruth Weisel Endowment for Africa, Oceania, and the Americasexpand_more 2010.73
On View in Gallery 254expand_more
This Somali wedding basket was given to the bride on her wedding day. It would become a place to store personal items, such as jewelry, but first it would be used for a playful wedding-day ritual. Filled with treats, the basket would be covered and tied shut with string. Male guests, including the groom, would then compete to open it within a certain amount of time. In the end, the groom was expected to win—the tied basket being a metaphor for his wife.
