Images(6)

crown

Object NameBeaded Crown (Oríkògbófó)

Made FromNatural Fibers, Glass, Wood

Dateabout 1953

TechniqueWoven, sewn, embroidered, lampworked

SizeOverall H: 19 cm, W: 22.1 cm, D: 21.6 cm

Accession Number96.3.8

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Life on a String: 35 Centuries of the Glass Bead

Past | Present: Expanding the Stories of Glass

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

The shape of this white oríkògbófó may have been inspired by the British royal crown. However, the birds that circle the white crown are indigenous Yorùbá symbols. They represent women and demonstrate that the “ruler only rules with the support and cooperation of our mothers.”

Place Made

Nigeria

Physical DescriptionBeaded Crown (Oríkògbófó). Colorless and opaque black glass; natural fibers, wood, glass beads; woven, sewn, embroidered, flame-worked. Beaded crown consisting of a basket structure of natural fibers, lined on the interior with a flannel-like cotton fabric and covered on the exterior by fine woven linen or cotton cloth. Its edge is trimmed with faded red flannel fabric. The crown is divided in four equal sections which are densely embroidered with vertical rows of mirrored bugle beads. The four seams are enhanced by 6 parallel lines of bugle beads on each side, and 9 protruding knops covered with colorless seed beads. On top of the crown rests a waisted wooden(?) knop covered with fabric which is also embroidered with horizontal rows of seed beads. A wide band of diagonal rows of bugle beads decorates the rim. Four three-dimensional stylized birds, their bodies covered in seed beads, with flat wings embroidered with bugle beads and trimmed with seed beads, are sewn onto the center of each panel. The birds' eyes are indicated in opaque black seed beads and the tail feather by four or six, respectively, thin strands of bugle beads; unsigned.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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