Origin: Tamanrasset (Algeria), Manufacturer: Kel-Ahaggar (Tuareg ethnic group)

Dated: 1st half of the 20th century

A Tuareg woman's leather traveling bag is called tehaihait and it is made from goatskin, cotton, and natural pigments. Often secured with the characteristic Tuareg metal locks called tanast, these bags are used by women to store their jewelry, clothes, and other personal items. They are hung from one side of the camel when traveling and from a pole or post at the women's section at the encampment.

What is interesting, Tuareg women are in charge of leatherworking. They soak the skins and remove the hair to then tan them with natural tannins and soften them with oil or butter. The colorful decoration is made with use natural dyes. Stunning ornamentation combines painted, embroidered, and incised decoration.

Leather Tuarene bags, similar to the one you are just watching, are gaining more and more popularity and can now be bought online without any problems. Beautiful and timeless patterns and rich color combinations become an inspiration and a fashionable accessory seen more and more often not only among the desert landscape but also on the streets of big cities.

Bibiliografia:

- Tuareg leather traveling bag (hasło), [w:] www.berberia.es, link: https://berberia.es/en/leather/516-saco-de-cuero-camellero-tuareg.html [dostęp: 20.09.2021]
- Tuareg people (hasło), [w:] www.en.wikipedia.org, link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuareg_people [dostęp: 20.09.2021].

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The purchase is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the National Institute of Museums and Collections' own program "Expansion of museum collections".