Box
Box made of turtle shell, 1880
About the object
This tortoise shell was inventoried as a powder compact. The Herero women used the container to store dried buchu, a plant used as a herbal remedy with antiinflammatory and antiseptic properties, or cosmetic ointments made from fat and ochre clay pigment/iron-based clay. The wearing of such a container was probably part of the representative clothing of a Herero woman.