Source work:
1276/89
Ndebele (Unknown Artist)
Marriage Apron (Ijogolo)
Hide, beads, string
0432/04
John Henry Bacon (1868-1914)
The Ring
1898
Oil on canvas
2177/06
Zulu (Unknown Artist)
Pregnancy Apron (Isibodiya)
Hide, hooves, beads, string
100 Stars for Sarah - Juliet Armstrong & Eunice Cele
Juliet Armstrong (b.1950) & Eunice Cele (b.1946)
100 Stars for Sarah
Porcelain, beads and zirconium cubes
Price negotiable
My reaction was to the Ndebele married woman's apron, the pregnancy apron, Bonnie Ntshalintshali's wedding piece and the painting The Ring, obviously a wedding ring (my interpretation).
I wanted to make a nuptial vessel that was not for a specific culture but that embraced all the cultures in the four works, a nuptial vessel which would hold a celebratory beverage.
The beaded base is made to my specifications by Eunice Cele. The form of the base is taken from the 'tongue' like beaded extensions on the Ndebele apron. The vessel itself has been formed out of bone china and studded with 100 cubic zirconium.
My daughter lost a dear friend last year and she was a tall and beautiful South African. When she died she was not about to get married, but if she did, I would have liked her to sip a concoction of longevity from this bowl. The zirconium are a form of 'inkanyezi' or stars which are attractive to the ancestral spirits in African Culture. I have glazed the piece upside down to make the glaze defy gravity and give a feeling of spiritual elevation.
0941/88
Bonnie Ntshalintshali (1967-1999)
Lobola
1988
Painted earthenware