ticketsMember | Make a donation

Te saqwit (tent divider)

mid-20th century
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Te saqwit (tent divider)
  • Artist: Beja artists
  • Date: mid-20th century
  • Geography: Sudan, Eastern Desert
  • Culture: Beja peoples
  • Medium: Cotton, leather, beads, cowrie shell, doum palm leaf (Hyphaene species, possibly thebaica), dye
  • Dimensions: H. 60 in. × W. 14 ft. 3 1/2 in. (152.4 × 435.6 cm)
  • Classification: Textiles-Beadwork
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jerome Vogel and Susan Vogel, in memory of Shirley Gordon Nichols, 1996
  • Object Number: 1996.455
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Stitch-resist indigo shawl or wrapper, Wolof artist, Cotton, dye, Wolof peoples
Stitch-resist indigo shawl or wrapper
Wolof artist
Early–mid-20th century
The Last Lakota Horse Raid, Rhonda Holy Bear, Wakah Wayuphika Win, Making Beauty with Exceptional Skills Woman Native American, Wood (basswood), native-tanned and commercial leather, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, hair, dentalium shells, abalone, German silver, metal cones, brass tacks, beads, Sans Arc, Two Kettle and Hunkpapa Lakota (Teton Sioux)
Returned to lender
The Last Lakota Horse Raid
Rhonda Holy Bear, Wakah Wayuphika Win, Making Beauty with Exceptional Skills Woman
1991
The Arrest and Death of Sitting Bull, Thomas Stone Man, Thunkán Wicˆáša Native American, Ink on muslin, Yanktonai
Returned to lender
The Arrest and Death of Sitting Bull
Thomas Stone Man, Thunkán Wicˆáša
ca. 1920
Horse Medicine Bag, Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty Native American, Commercial and native-tanned leather, otter skin, rawhide, wool and cotton cloth, ermine skin, glass and brass beads, silk ribbon, Assiniboine-Sioux
Returned to lender
Horse Medicine Bag
Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty
1988
Peyote Box, Johnny Hoof Native American, Commercial leather, metal, pigment, Arapaho
Returned to lender
Peyote Box
Johnny Hoof
ca. 1975

Related Content

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.