Kirdi Pikuran Cache Sexe or Fertility Apron, Framed

Yellow, red, green, blue, orange. Strand after strand, edge to edge, and a fringe of cowries clicking at the bottom.

This is a pikuran, a beaded cache-sexe, made by Kirdi peoples of northern Cameroon in the 20th century. Kirdi is a collective name for the non-Muslim peoples of the Mandara Mountains region, where small beaded aprons were worn by women and closely associated with womanhood and fertility. Twisted fiber ties extend from the upper corners.

It now sits against a cream mat in a pale wood frame, about twenty-eight inches wide. The rhythm survived the framing.