AFRICAN PILLOW #01
USD 300.00
Artist_Unknown
Material_Wood
Origin_Africa
Period_Mid 1900s
Dimensions_W16.5cm D11cm H15cm
Product Number_#0070
Description_African wooden headrests / pillows have been around for thousands of years with the oldest preserved headrests on the African continent being found in Egypt dating back to the second and third dynasties of the Old Kingdom, 2649 – 2150BC. Many of these ancient headrest forms have parallels in east African headrest created five millennia later. In Ethiopia, the use of these headrests started about two to three-hundred years ago. Wooden headrests became personal items, that were often used as status symbols, especially among the Dinka people of South Sudan. “A young man is entitled to begin wearing a distinctive coiffure that marks him as an adult only after he is initiated. As each member of the age set rises through the hierarchical society, changes in jewellery, hairstyle and feather decorations for the hair often mark each promotion.” These wooden headrests were used to preserve these elaborate hairstyles during sleeping.