Te saqwit (tent divider)

Beja artists

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 344

Designed to be suspended from the rafters of a tent, this mobile architectural element separated daytime and nighttime quarters. Among the nomadic Beja of the Eastern Desert, a woman’s female relatives produce such an elaborate, multimedia composition at the time of her betrothal. The work’s red background, cowrie shells, and applied beadwork designs of crescent and full moons allude to marriage and fertility. Such multimedia creations may also feature embroidered livestock brands, considered potent protective symbols within this pastoralist society. Guarding the threshold of an intimate space devoted to sleep and marital relations, such amuletic compositions contributed to the interior’s physical security and spiritual protection.

#1558. Beja Peoples Tent Divider

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Te saqwit (tent divider), Beja artists, Cotton, leather, beads, cowrie shell, doum palm leaf (Hyphaene species, possibly thebaica), dye, Beja peoples

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Te saqwit (tent divider), Beja artists, Cotton, leather, beads, cowrie shell, doum palm leaf (Hyphaene species, possibly thebaica), dye, Beja peoples
Te saqwit (tent divider), Beja artists, Cotton, leather, beads, cowrie shell, doum palm leaf (Hyphaene species, possibly thebaica), dye, Beja peoples

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