Description
This collar is made of three separate necklaces stacked together. It is worn in combination with other beaded jewelry, such as headbands and bracelets. The colorful beads signal wealth, status, and good health. Girls and married women wear imankeek during dances that make the jewelry rhythmically flap up and down. The pieces shown here highlight the symbolic triad of colors used in historical Maasai beadwork: white, red, and blue.
Provenance
Amyas Naegele Fine Art Bases, New York; sold to Michael R. Mack, Atlanta, 2024 [email correspondence between Mack and Costa Petridis, Mar. 22, 2024, and documentation from Amyas Naegele Fine Art Bases; copies in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2024.
Accession Number
273611
Medium
Beads and wire
Dimensions
overall: 40.1 × 38.8 × 2 cm (15 3/4 × 15 1/4 × 3/4 in.)
Classification
necklace
Credit Line
Gift of the Michael R. Mack Collection