Headrest (1800s–1900s): Art, History and Details
Headrest at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1800s–1900s, Wood. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Headrest (1800s–1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
The shape of this four-legged headrest alludes to cattle, whether bull, ox, or cow. This reference services from the fact that these animals are a source of wealth but also act as mediators between the living and the dead. In earlier days, both headrests and cattle were used in dowry transactions.
Object facts
- Title: Headrest
- Date: 1800s–1900s
- Culture: Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zulu-style carver; Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Kingdom of Eswatini, Swazi-style carver
- Type: Furniture and woodwork
- Technique: Wood
- Dimensions: Overall: 10.2 cm (4 in.)
- Collection: African Art
- Department: African Art
- Accession number: 2010.198
A detail from the museum
Headrests served to protect the elaborate coiffures highly fashionable until the early to mid-20th century and also enhanced contact with the ancestral realm through dreams.
Collection credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Further reading listed by the museum
- Ginzberg, Marc. African Forms, exh. cat., Museum for African Art, New York. Milan: Skira, 2000, pg. 40
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
Sources
More in Lifestyle
Keep reading
