Label Text:
Yoruba kings (oba) must protect their initiated heads at all times. For official ceremonies they wear a traditional ritual crown (ade). On other occasions, they wear beaded coronets, which are not sacred and can take many forms.
Informal caps signify Yoruba rulers’ shifting postcolonial status, as Obas no longer emerged exclusively for sacred festivals, but left their palaces to confer with other civic leaders. Seen in this context, beaded coronets serve to indicate wealth rather than absolute authority.
The design of the coronet shown here is based on Islamic cloth caps. White beads arranged in an interlaced pattern evoke Obatala, a Yoruba deity (orisa) associated with composure.
In a photograph by distinguished scholar and founder of Yoruba cultural studies Ulli Beier the oba and Obatala priest of Ejigbo is shown wearing a white coronet based on the British crown. The same man (the Elejigbo) owned the regal House for the Head in Amherst's collection (AC 2002.294.a,b).
KG, 2010
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2005.163 |
