H x W x D: 13.3 x 40 x 24.8 cm (5 1/4 x 15 3/4 x 9 3/4 in.)
Type:
Textile and Fiber Arts
Geography:
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Date:
Mid-20th century
Label Text:
This bicorn chief's headress alludes to the strength and power of the buffalo as it refers to the associated powers of Pende chieftancy. Stylistic elements that identify this headress include the appendages or horns on each side, the central knoblike proturberance, and a finial at the crown. While its range of colors departs from the norm, the arrangement of the beads in zig zag, lozenge, triangle and circle designs is consistent with the more common, and sedate, black-and-white beaded headdresses. Among the Pende, these headresses are called misango mapende. The form is said to have originated in the Lunda region, and since the 1940s, Yaka and Suku chiefs have purchased this type of beaded headress from their Pende neighbors.
Description:
Plant fiber hat with knotted top, glass beadwork on the sides and on projecting cylindrical knobs on four sides and top, and on the forward projecting side horns. Hat has yellow and blue triangles on its sides, yellow and blue stripes on its horns and orange and blue rectangles on the top knob.
Provenance:
Ghysels Gallery, Brussels, -- to 1983
Exhibition History:
TxtStyles: Fashioning Identity, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 11-December 7, 2008
Patterns and Forms, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., August 20-September 16, 1984
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