Gail Martin Gallery Image Enlargement

Ancient, antique and ethnographic textiles
 Africa

A685
PRESTIGE HAT ( ASHETU )
CAMEROON, BAMELIKE PEOPLE 20th century crocheted cotton with added burls
(very thin wood sticks around which cotton thread is crocheted) and strands of elephant hair;
7½” X 5½” Burls reflect the hair style worn by high ranking men of the Cameroon culture.
In this culture, projections from hats, such as feathers and burls, are seen as
a physical manifestation of one’s “inner head” by means of material wealth.