Nomad Handbag with Ethiopian Breast Plate

Black on top, wine-purple below, and a nubby disc studded across the middle.

This is a handbag with an Ethiopian breast plate. It is leather & bronze. Bronze and brass ornaments from Ethiopia were often cast by the lost-wax method, in which a wax model is covered in clay and replaced by molten metal. Generally, a smoothly draped tote with a charcoal-black upper panel above a deep aubergine body. A round golden disc with a raised center boss and small side bumps decorates the front, and a whipstitched pouch with a zipper dangles from a cord. It is 18 inches long and 17.25 high.

Moody, dark and just a little regal.