The headdress is worn with a braided leather band on the top of the skull and the side pendants made of teeth and metal elements adjoining the head of the wearer.
Men wear this ornament as a symbol of status and bravery and women to enhance their beauty.The Mursi are a Nilotic pastoralist ethnic group in Ethiopia. Surrounded by mountains between the Omo River and its tributary the Mago, the home of the Mursi is one of the most isolated regions of the country.
Materials: Warthog fangs, leather, iron, aluminium, vegetable fibres.
First half of the 20th century.
Provenance: Spanish private collection.
Size with stand: 39 cm high x 45 cm wide with the fangs.
Literature:
“Joyas del Africa oriental”, Kumbi Saleh, 2006, p. 81
“Le Monde en Tete”, Seuil, 2019
P9535
