Tuareg Leather Beaded Bag

A red panel with scratched lines and a shaggy fringe of dangling strands.

This Tuareg beaded leather bag is Tuareg, from Mali, West or North Africa, and dates to the 20th century. Leather bags in Saharan societies carry personal belongings and provisions on long journeys, and they are often decorated with fringe, tooling or beads in repeating bands. A rectangular panel in blotchy red with incised crisscross lines and a thick tufted band along its lower edge. Long thin strands in green and brown hang below, tangled like loose reeds. It is 6 inches wide, 2 deep and 8.5 high.

Wild hair at the bottom, careful lines at the top.