Cleveland Museum of Art
Crown (adéńlá)
- Date
- 1900s
- Medium
- Cloth (probably cotton and wool), glass beads, reeds, cardboard, wood, plant fiber, cotton, and quills
- Culture
- Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker
- Department
- African Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 159011
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
The most important of all regalia, topped with the "royal bird" Okin, this headdress connects the king to Oduduwa, the mythical founder of the Yoruba. The veil of beaded strings masks the identity of the wearer and protects his subjects from the supernatural powers that radiate from his face. The crown also signifies the "inner head" of the king, the locus of an awesome life force called ase. No one––not even the king who wears it––is allowed to look inside this crown, as that's where it is most powerful.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
- Provenance
- (Douglas Dawson, Chicago)
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