Adone Headdress
Dublin Core
Title
Adone Headdress
Creator
Kurumba Culture
Creator Biography
Mali
Culture
Kurumba
Place Made
Upper Haute Volta, Ouahigouya area
Description
The Kurumba culture of Upper Volta and Mali of West Africa created a headdress known as the Adone, which is a stylized depiction of an antelope. The Adone in this exhibit is clearly a 20th century version of the headdress, as it has a large half-domed mask at the bottom of the sculpture that conceals the face of the masquerader, and it has holes along the edges of this mask, so that wearers of the headdress may tie raffia to the holes to cover the neck and shoulders and conceal their identities. The antelope figure is also painted in colorful geometric patterns in blue, red, and white pigments, whil earlier versions of the Adone used black, white, and reddish-brown pigments.
The Adone headdress is used predominantly in funerary rituals, and it forms and important part of the grieving process. The wearers of the headdress serve as pallbearers, escorting the body to the burial site and overseeing the placement of the body in the grave.
Research by Ross Kenagy, 2013, Missouri State University student. Mentor: Dr. Billie Follensbee
The Adone headdress is used predominantly in funerary rituals, and it forms and important part of the grieving process. The wearers of the headdress serve as pallbearers, escorting the body to the burial site and overseeing the placement of the body in the grave.
Research by Ross Kenagy, 2013, Missouri State University student. Mentor: Dr. Billie Follensbee
Item Dimensions
148.5 cm h. x 27 cm w. x 79 cm d.
Medium
sculpture
Materials
wood
Techniques
carving
Provenance
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Stoneman
Acession Number
1985.38
Accession Year
1985
Photo Number
20110006