This, the first book devoted to beadwork from the eastern regions of southern Africa, illustrates in full colour 260 pieces of beadwork dating from 1850 to 1910. It firmly places beadwork as an art form to be displayed in art galleries and researched by art historians rather than as an artefact of interest only to ethnographers. Based on the collection of art dealers Michael Stevenson and Michael Graham-Stewart, it demonstrates the breadth and astonishing artistry of women beadworkers from the subcontinent. Together Stevenson and Graham-Stewart have acquired pieces that were collected and taken back to Europe by colonial officials, travellers, missionaries and soldiers.