Peg (msuruaki) for a Sandal (mtalawanda / mtawanda) or Clog (kiatu cha mti)
Unknown Artist
c 1800s
Medium
Wood and glass beads
Dimensions
12 × 4 cm
Classification
Wood
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Educational Purchase Fund
Accession Number
1929.566.2.b
About this artwork
Common in the Indian Ocean region, wooden sandals changed meaning across place and time. This pair’s base elevates the foot as the toes grip an antelope-shaped peg (msuruaki). Crisp geometric sole designs suggest they were rarely worn. East African elites and merchants once had exclusive rights to wooden shoes, wearing elaborate ones only for portraits. Formerly enslaved people living along the coast wore simpler ones from the 1840s onward, adopting elite footwear to assert their liberation. How...