Wedding Necklace (Mporo)
Rendile
1950–1999
- Medium
- Fibers, beads, animal hide, and pigment
- Dimensions
- overall: 16.2 × 30.8 × 33.1 cm (6 3/8 × 12 1/8 × 13 in.); A (top section): 12.7 × 24.8 × 33.1 cm (5 × 9 3/4 × 13 in.); B (bottom section): 2.6 × 31.2 × 27.4 cm (1 × 12 1/4 × 10 3/4 in.)
- Genre
- necklace
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
rendilenecklaceEastern and Southern Africaafrican Artarts of Africaweddingssamburu20th Century
About
This multitiered necklace or collar was worn by a married woman of the Rendille people. Beaded necklaces, bracelets, and anklets are among their most prized forms of body adornment for women. The name given to this type of elaborate necklace, mporo, derives from the special red beads imported to Kenya from Europe since the 19th century. In Rendille culture they symbolize fertility, wealth, and a connection with the ancestors.