Minneapolis Institute of Art
Headdress
Bamileke artistLinkedCulture matchlcp-ed5e62f6c082
- Date
- 20th century
- Medium
- Cotton and raffia, single loop interlacing
- Culture
- Bamileke
- Department
- Arts of Global Africa
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Object ID
- 4872
From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record
The ashetu - or prestige hat - is prevalent in the Grasslands of Cameroon. The large, blue and white burls are stiffened with wooden pegs and divided by concentric circles into two orange lobes on either side of the head. In this region, men once wore wrapped, tufted hairstyles to indicate their high social status. The projections on the ashetu mimic this hairstyle. Men wear prestige hats to ceremonies and rituals to express their standing and authority in the community. This headdress type is knitted or crocheted using vegetable fiber and appears in many variations. Artists also represent this style of hat, or hairstyle, in masks and sculptures. Bamileke, Africa
The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Minneapolis Institute of Art and other institutions.