Additional Information: A fine and well used handwoven square mat made out of straws and decorated with embroidered motifs and openwork  patterns. The artisan uses basketry technique to get to such result.    These have served as eating mats also known as placemats  (Izithebe in Zulu). They  were woven from salt marsh rush . 

For more information on the fabrication of such mats see . Jannie van Heerden ZULU BASKETRY, 2009, p. 27; for a close similar piece see p. 30 of the same book.

I am selling this book : see on our  website ID# 46639

AUTHOR:

Jannie van Heerden
PUBLISHER: Print Matters (Noordhoek, South Africa)
FORMAT: Soft cover with flaps
PAGES: 96 (full color throughout)
PHOTOGRAPHS: 135

Additional information: Zulu Basketry is the first comprehensive pictorial record of a craft form that has endured political change and empowered basket weavers with a sustainable means of making a living. Zulu Basketry focuses on contemporary basket weaving from the Hlabisa area of Kwa-Zulu Natal where some of the best work is produced. Master weavers from this area – like the late Reuben Ndwandwe and Beauty Ngxongo – are represented in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and in private collections worldwide. Zulu Basketry includes a historical overview, details of basketry method and technique, basket weaver profiles and a guide to telephone wire basketry, as well as information on sources and suppliers.

Jannie van Heerden is Deputy Chief Education Specialist in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education in charge of Visual Arts and Design education in KwaZulu-Natal, and has spent 16 years documenting basket weavers in the field.