Woman’s apron with beaded flower pattern
Guyana or Surinam. Indigenous people not documented. Arawak? 18th century. Woven cotton, European glass beads, seeds. Mistakenly inventoried as a
“finery from Senegal” in the Entry Register of the Academic Museum in 1820, this beaded apron is probably the one given by Ami Butini in 1759; context of creation not documented. MEG Inv. ETHAM K000235
In Butini’s time, the Surinam “Indians” were divided into several
peoples, notably the Arawak, Kali’na and Warao. It is difficult to
say from which of these he acquired the “Indian woman’s apron”
brought to Geneva and of which there is no trace in today’s
collections. On the other hand, we do know that at the time
European customers were highly prized by the Indigenous peoples
who sold them both objects belonging to them and animals hunted
in the forest. D. Buyssens
