Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zulu-style carver / 1800s–1900s
Headrest
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Headrest as furniture and woodwork (Africa, Southern Africa, South Africa, Zulu-style carver · 1800s–1900s).
Headrests served to protect the elaborate coiffures highly fashionable until the early to mid-20th century and also enhanced contact with the ancestral realm through dreams.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this furniture and woodwork as Wood.
The museum's collection notes: The shape of this four-legged headrest alludes to cattle, whether bull, ox, or cow. This reference services from the fact that these animals are a source of wealth but also act as mediators between the living and the dead. In earlier days, both headrests and cattle were used in dowry transactions.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtHeadrestOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.