Cleveland Museum of Art

Headpiece (nlo-o-ngo)

Date

early 1900s

Medium

Plant fibers, cloth, hair, cowrie shells, buttons, upholstery studs, and thread

Culture

Africa, Central Africa, Gabon, Fang style, unknown maker

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This headpiece ( nlo-o-ngo ) was made to look like a similarly shaped hairstyle. While the coiffure gained height from inserts tucked under the hair, here the underlying basket was woven into a central ridge. Plant fibers were woven or braided to mimic hairstyling techniques. Rarely removed, the hat gave the appearance of elaborately styled and decorated hair. Three rows of cowries around the band evoke a shell or bead headband, while the metal furniture tacks are the same as would have been inserted into the hair. Existing in many styles, men or women wore these wiglike headdresses to signify status, group identity, or social roles. Sculptors depicted these characteristic headpieces and coiffures in figurative works that guarded the remains of ancestors.

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