Here, two couples—one young, one old—are depicted among an array of animals native to southern Africa. Between the 1930s and 1950s, the Zulu carver Zizwezenyanga Qwabe established himself as one of the most sought-after artists in colonial South Africa. A master at pyrography, an artistic technique where designs are burned into wood with a hot tool, he became famous for idealized scenes of pre-colonial Zulu life. Qwabe’s work was popular among both Black South Africans and Europeans. For Black South Africans suffering under the oppressive Apartheid regime, a political system of oppressive racial segregation and discrimination that benefited white citizens, scenes like this were a reminder of better days. White patrons viewed works like these as souvenirs.