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.