A Must Have For The Fashionable Man!

A Zulu male was not considered properly dressed unless he wore a penis cap or Umncedo.

Penis caps were made from a variety of materials, including wood, horn, gourd and palm leaves (such as this one). I recently read an amusing anecdote of an English lady helping out in trading store and unknowingly picking out a few for an old Zulu man who came in to purchase them. She was mortified when informed later what they were.

Palm leaves, grass and string. Ex Marc and Denyse Ginzberg collection.



A wood Tsonga male initiation figure depicted wearing a penis cap. Museum for African Art, Washington. Ex Tishman Collection.