Headrest, between 1850 and 1950

  • Yaka, African

Wood, brass studs, copper and brass wire

  • Overall: 6 7/8 × 9 1/2 inches (17.5 × 24.1 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art

78.76

This beautiful headrest made by the Yaka of Zaire supported the wearer's neck so that his or her elaborate coiffure would not be destroyed while sleeping. The headrest is supported on the back of a pangolin (also called the scaly anteater) whose scaly body is suggested by the many brass studs. This animal was sacred to many people in Zaire for its extraordinary appearance and for its ability to roll itself up in a hard ball to prevent harm from even such a powerful enemy as a leopard. Pangolin scales are used as protective charms against evil.

George Ortiz

Baron F. Rolin (Brussels, Belgium). (Morton, Gallery Lipkin, New York, New York, USA)

1978-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

George Ortiz Collection. Sales cat., Sotheby Parke-Bernet. New York, June 29, 1978, lot 51, (ill.). “Family Art Game,” Detroit News (May 18, 1986): p. 33 (ill.) [DIA Advertising Supplement]. African Masterworks In The Detroit Institute of Arts. Washington and London, 1995, no. 65. At Home in Africa: Design, Beauty and Pleasing Irregularity in Domestic Settings. Exh. cat., the Galleries at Cleveland State University. Cleveland, 2014, p. 13, 16 (ill.).

Yaka, African, Headrest, between 1850 and 1950, wood, brass studs, copper and brass wire. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art, 78.76.