H x W x D: 12.9 x 45.4 x 9.2 cm (5 1/16 x 17 7/8 x 3 5/8 in.)
Type:
Decorative Arts
Geography:
South Africa
Date:
Late 19th to mid-20th century
Label Text:
While watching over livestock at night, men in East Africa use headrests. They may be carried during the day as a sign of status. African headrests are designed to cradle the neck and support the head. They protect coiffures and elevate the head for sleeping.
Headrests display an amazing variety of shapes. In some, one sees the original forms of the tree trunks or branches from which they were carved. Others bear little resemblance to the wood's natural forms. Generally, the head support is a curved rectangle; the legs, pedestals and decorations vary and demonstrate the cultural style and the work of the individual artist.
Zulu headrests take two forms. This type is supported by tapering cylindrical legs that may number from two to ten. The second type has a series of geometric supports covered by relief patterns. Because of their extended length, Zulu headrests are thought to have been used as stools during the day and pillows at night. The Zulu believe that sleep and dreams are the means for ancestral intervention. The headrest would therefore be more than an ordinary pillow; it would be an instrument of mediation between the worlds of the living and the ancestors.
Description:
Wood headrest composed of a long narrow rectangular top on four cylindrical legs with a rounded conical form below the center of the top. The legs have an incised basketweave motif and there is an incised linear motif on the conical form.
Provenance:
Michael Graham-Stewart, London, -- to 1989
Exhibition History:
Art of the Personal Object, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1991-April 9, 2007
Content Statement:
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Image Requests:
High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
