Pubic ornament

Museum number:
5-4236a-c
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21054236a@2dc
Alternate number:
49 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.2037
Description:
A) Female pubic ornament (madzoad); iron strips bound together in roughly triangular shape with twined bast fiber cordage at apex and bent around wire loop at base; 7 blue glass trade beads on wire loop; length: 15 cm. Made by Mafa smiths; always worn by married women; hung from skwi deba (B) concave side outwards and often with glass beads and other ornaments. B) Hip band (skwi deba); cordage stained with red ochre, and oil from fruit of Khaya senegalensis is wrapped around leather cord; length: ca. 48 cm. Made and worn at all times by women and married women; in disuse by 1964. Skwi deba = "something on the back". C) Leather tie thong with 2 iron strips twisted spirally over it.
Donor:
Paul Hinderling and University Appropriation
Collection place:
Mokolo, North Region, Cameroon
Verbatim coll. place:
N. Cameroon; Mokolo; Mafa tribe
Culture or time period:
Mafa tribe
Collector:
Paul Hinderling
Collection date:
August 1, 1964
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Baskets (containers) and Twined weaving
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama
Accession date:
1965
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Loans:
S1983-1984 #4: City of Palo Alto (August 22, 1983–January 11, 1984)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Pubic ornament, accession number 5-4236a-c, described as A) Female pubic ornament (madzoad); iron strips bound together in roughly triangular shape with twined bast fiber cordage at apex and bent around wire loop at base; 7 blue glass trade beads on wire loop; length: 15 cm. Made by Mafa smiths; always worn by married women; hung from skwi deba (B) concave side outwards and often with glass beads and other ornaments. B) Hip band (skwi deba); cordage stained with red ochre, and oil from fruit of Khaya senegalensis is wrapped around leather cord; length: ca. 48 cm. Made and worn at all times by women and married women; in disuse by 1964. Skwi deba = "something on the back". C) Leather tie thong with 2 iron strips twisted spirally over it.Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Pubic ornament, accession number 5-4236a-c, described as A) Female pubic ornament (madzoad); iron strips bound together in roughly triangular shape with twined bast fiber cordage at apex and bent around wire loop at base; 7 blue glass trade beads on wire loop; length: 15 cm. Made by Mafa smiths; always worn by married women; hung from skwi deba (B) concave side outwards and often with glass beads and other ornaments. B) Hip band (skwi deba); cordage stained with red ochre, and oil from fruit of Khaya senegalensis is wrapped around leather cord; length: ca. 48 cm. Made and worn at all times by women and married women; in disuse by 1964. Skwi deba = "something on the back". C) Leather tie thong with 2 iron strips twisted spirally over it.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Pubic ornament, accession number 5-4236a-c, described as A) Female pubic ornament (madzoad); iron strips bound together in roughly triangular shape with twined bast fiber cordage at apex and bent around wire loop at base; 7 blue glass trade beads on wire loop; length: 15 cm. Made by Mafa smiths; always worn by married women; hung from skwi deba (B) concave side outwards and often with glass beads and other ornaments. B) Hip band (skwi deba); cordage stained with red ochre, and oil from fruit of Khaya senegalensis is wrapped around leather cord; length: ca. 48 cm. Made and worn at all times by women and married women; in disuse by 1964. Skwi deba = "something on the back". C) Leather tie thong with 2 iron strips twisted spirally over it.

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