AFRICAN PILLOW #02

USD 300.00

Artist_Unknown

Material_Wood

Origin_Africa

Period_Mid 1900s

Dimensions_W16.5cm D6cm H19cm

Product Number_#0071

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.

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