Zulu
South Africa
Headrest (Isicamelo)
INV-1456
Zulu
South Africa19th century
Headrest (Isicamelo)
Zulu South Africa →zuluArts of Africaafrican Artsouth africanfurniturewood
Date
19th century
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
17.8 × 47 × 19.7 cm (7 × 18 1/2 × 7 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Edward E. Ayer Endowment in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a neckrest formed part of a bride’s dowry. Though highly abstracted, the form of this example appropriately evokes a bull, a source of wealth and a means of ancestral communication. However, its exceptionally large size suggests that this neckrest may have been a nonfunctional prestige object in the treasury of a nobleman.
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