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Pitt Rivers Museum

2002.42.1

Beaded headdress worn by women in traditional dance.


2002.42.1

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Beaded headdress worn by women in traditional dance.
Long description
Beaded headdress worn by women in traditional dance. The headdress is a ring of plant fibre decorated with blue, white & orange beadwork. There are two panels of cowrie shells on either sides of the headdress and a beaded plaque representing a figure sewn over one of these panels (one side now unsewn). Originally coins were sewn onto it but these were already missing when it was collected by the donor. [CF 18/9/2002]
Geographical reference
Nyanza Central Uyoma
Cultural groups
Luo
Person
Maker Apila nyar Ongoro
Field collector Gilbert Oteyo
PRM source Gilbert Oteyo
Date / Period
Date made: Circa 1936
Date collected
January 2001
Acquisition information
Purchased: 2001
Materials and processes
Material Bead, Material Papyrus Plant, Material Cowrie Shell, Material String, Process Beadwork, Process Stitched
Dimensions
Height: max 130 mm, Diameter: max 180 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 2002.42.1 Other numbers: 1.1
Associated publications
For the collector's account of the acquisition of this object (and a colour illustration), see 'Collecting the Ligisa' in Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, Newsletter, by Gilbert Oteyo, no. 54 (November 2005), p. 4. [JC 20 12 2009] Illustrated in black and white as figure 3 on page 129 of 'Luo Headdresses: Researching Material Culture in Northwestern Kenya', by Gilbert Oteyo, in East African Contours: Reviewing Creativity and Visual Culture (Contributions to Critical Museology and Material Culture), edited by Hassan Arero and Zachary Kingdon (London: The Horniman Museum and Gardens, 2005), pp. 125-39. [JC 20 2 2006]

Search terms: Ornament, Clothing Headgear, Dance, Bead, Headdress, Dance Accessory