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Beaded Royal Crown with Bird (adénlá)

Beaded Royal Crown with Bird (adénlá)

Unknown

The Yorùbá have a saying: “Beads are like children” (Ìlèkè, l’omo). Beads signify good fortune, wealth, status, and power; rulers wear richly adorned headgear: crowns (adé) on the most important occasions, and coronets (orikogbòfò) at other times. The most sacred crown is conical with a bird or birds at the top, one or more faces, and a beaded veil that covers the ruler’s face. Birds symbolized women’s mystical powers. The faces with prominent eyes suggest ancestors’ vigilance, and the veil distances the ruler from subjects and masks extraordinary powers.
Artist
Unknown (Nigerian, Yorùbá People)
Title
Beaded Royal Crown with Bird (adénlá)
Date
early 20th century
Medium
Beads, palm fiber, and fabric
Dimensions
14 x 6 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. Overall
Credit
Gift of Drs. James and Gladys Witt Strain
Accession No.
1993.80a-b
Classification
Beadwork
Geography
Nigeria

Related

23 December 1993, gifted by Drs. James and Gladys Strain (Riverdale, NY) to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Exhibition gallery guide, "Revealing Forms: African Art from the Elvehjem Collection." 2002.
  • Drewal, Henry John. "African Art at the Elvehjem." Bulletin/Biennial Report 2001-2003. Elvehjem Museum of Art (2003): 16-36. pp. 16-36

  • Revealing Forms: African Art from the Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 4/20/2002–6/16/2002

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