Bamenda Cotton Ceremonial Bag, Based

Hundreds of porcupine quills hang from a blue band, bristling like a very well-groomed hedgehog.

This ceremonial bag is Bamenda, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is rattan, cotton, hide and cowrie. In the Cameroon Grassfields, bags were a mark of status, and elaborately decorated examples are generally associated with titled men. The body is covered in rows of banded quills in brown and cream, spiky at the lower edge. A strip of indigo-dyed cotton, striped with lighter blue, runs across the top. Small cowries sit at the center, and a braided fiber handle rises above. It is 18 inches wide, 4 deep and 25 high.

Practical, for anyone who would rather not be pickpocketed.