Woman's vest (alual)

Dinka

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Caption

Dinka. Woman's vest (alual), 20th century. Glass beads, fiber, fabric, wire, mounted: 30 1/2 × 20 × 4 1/2 in. (77.5 × 50.8 × 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund, 1997.1.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.1997.1.3_print_bw.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Arts of Africa

Culture

Dinka

Title

Woman's vest (alual)

Date

20th century

Geography

Place made: South Sudan

Medium

Glass beads, fiber, fabric, wire

Classification

(not assigned)

Dimensions

mounted: 30 1/2 × 20 × 4 1/2 in. (77.5 × 50.8 × 11.4 cm)

Credit Line

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Accession Number

1997.1.3

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Tell me more.

    Both Dinka men and women wear forms of beaded corsets such as these. While men's corsets are structured with strong wires that hug the body tightly, women's corsets are more ample and hang from the neck like a large necklace. Some scholars suggest that these ornaments are "extensions" of formerly existing belts for men and necklaces for women. The highly prized imported materials used to make this corset, such as glass beads and wire make the garment a marker of wealth and status. The corset can also be an indicator of one's advancement through age grades, availability for marriage, and bride price.
  • This is BEAUTIFUL. Can you tell me more about it?

    Of course! Among the Dinka of South Sudan both men and women have worn corsets historically, although the practice is not as ubiquitous today.
    Men's corsets are more structured and close fitting, like the Victorian-era corset we think of typically. However, women's corsets were more ample, hanging from the neck like a large necklace.
    Things like bead color, materials, and the construction of the garment can communicate characteristics of the wearer, such as age, wealth, and ethnic affiliation.
    Imported materials, especially beads and metals, were prized commodities and were markers of wealth and status for the Dinka.
    Because the Dinka are herders, portable possessions are very important and they have historically focused on adorning the human form as the primary method of artistic expression.
  • Why is this called a corset?

    The use of the word corset, in the English description of this object, is meant to pair this "Alual" with its male counterpart, "Manlual" which is much more like what we think of as a corset.
    Both adornments are worn by Dinka people as an indicator of adulthood.

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