ID Number

Title

Item Name

Culture

Material

Manufacturing Technique

Date Made

Place Made

Date Collected

Date Owned

Owner

Owner

Owner

Acquisition Date

Source

Measurements

Item Classes

Condition

Accession Number

Cultural Context

Status

Description

Cylindrical-shaped headdress with basketry support (triaxil interlacing) and large, flared, upper rim; has entirely beaded surface sewn on cloth-covered support. Horizontal bands of white triangles on black. One wide row of white zig-zag. Two single rows of red beading. Rows of white and black at rim. Small opening at basket top stuffed and covered by cloth which is wrapped into stiff support for hollow, beaded cone, inverted, projecting from top, with stiff black hair wisk, hide wrapped and sewn on wood stick projecting up from cone's centre. Wisk's base, wire wrapped. Cone's flared rim has four beaded straps, two with black and white stripes, the others with white triangle pattern and red beaded edge, attaching cone with flared top rim of cylinder. Two attached, looped, beaded straps, one at each side at ear area, one in black and white, the other in red and white. One has dangling bead string. One base side has short, bead-wrapped cloth projection.

Narrative

The collector, Nellie Taylor, served as a nursing missionary (1900-1920), first with the Ovimbundu at Bihe, then with the Chokwe at luma Kasai. She belonged to a group who sponsored several missions across Central Africa from 1881-1931.

History Of Use

Worn by Chief Muachanue; removable brush on top served as a fly whisk. Within Chokwe culture, headdresses are typically worn by patriarchal authorities. Chiefs would wear loop-winged headdresses, men would wear flat ones for dances and festivals, and warriors would wear ones adorned with cock feathers to symbolize their virility. The winged loops on this headdress are characteristic of headdresses for patriarchal chiefs.