\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): p. 49-99.
","citation":"\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): p. 49-99.
, p. 69","date":2002,"id":3025,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774767"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"African and Oceanic Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1900-1945","dateend":1999,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Headrest with staff","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"1998-542","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"John B. Elliott (1928-1997), New York, NY by 1983; bequeathed to the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, 1998.","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nHeadrests are among the most elegant household items from southern Africa. Placed under the ear and cheek or below the nape of the neck, these wooden pillows supported the owner’s head and protected elaborate coiffures during sleep. The raised platform was believed to encourage a deep sleep and thereby promote dreams, an important function for the Tsonga and northern Nguni, who used the oneiric state to communicate with deceased family members. By facilitating these exchanges, the headrests themselves gained spiritual significance. They were often buried with the owner upon death, perhaps extending the headrest’s efficacy beyond the grave; they could also be destroyed after death or passed down to an heir. \r\nHeadrests from southern Africa take many different shapes and were produced by artists who traveled throughout the region, making attributions of style, ethnicity, and geography particularly challenging given the dearth of collecting data and provenance records. \r\nThe striking double headrest with snuff containers, intended for a husband and wife, is deftly carved from a single piece of wood. The tobacco mixture in the containers was mildly hallucinogenic and would have been smoked before bed, perhaps to encourage a vivid dream life.\r\nThe headrest with scepter or wand is an inventive combination of two utilitarian objects. The scepter/wand runs through the two support legs of the headrest and terminates in a flat disk. The design allows the owner to attach a bundle to the scepter/wand for carrying, as well as to use the headrest for sleeping when traveling.\r\nThe elongated, geometrically patterned headrest has a gently sloping platform supported by three split legs. The outer legs are carved with a short band of horizontal ridges above vertical ridges, a decoration common to Swazi headrests. The central leg is carved with a grid of raised squares called amasumpa, or warts, typical of Zulu decoration. The motif is associated with herds of cattle and may derive from royal insignia. The headrest’s length suggests that it could have been used by two people or functioned as a stool. \r\nThe imaginatively designed swaybacked headrest carved with rounded features has a markedly zoomorphic form. Its swollen legs, short tail-like ends, and slightly concave underbelly create a striking allusion to cattle, a primary source of wealth for the northern Nguni. Cattle also were believed to mediate between the worlds of the living and the dead, and until the early twentieth century, both cattle and headrests were important elements of a bride’s dowry. It is possible that this headrest was commissioned for a wedding.","remarks":"see 1998-539 a-c, 1998-538, and 1998-541"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"\n\tPlaced under the ear and cheek or below the nape of the neck, these elegant headrests from southern Africa supported their owners’ heads and protected elaborate hairstyles during sleep. By encouraging a deep sleep, they were believed to promote dreams, an important function for the Tsonga and northern Nguni, who communicated with deceased family members while in a dreamlike state.\n
\n\n\tThe design of headrests was often highly functional. The double headrest with bulbous snuff containers at each end was intended to hold a tobacco mixture for a couple to smoke before bed. The flat disk at the end of the headrest with the staff allowed the owner to attach a bundle to the headrest during travel. The rounded zoomorphic forms and raised geometric decorative patterns found on the Zulu headrests are associated with cattle, a historic source of wealth for the northern Nguni.\n
","remarks":"AFR_31_WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation - Group for 1998-539 a-c, 1998-538, 1998-542, and 1998-541"}],"datebegin":1870,"sortnumber":"1998 542","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:53:05.276617","objectid":37197,"dimensions":"12.4 × 61.7 × 7.3 cm (4 7/8 × 24 5/16 × 2 7/8 in.)","on_view":true}