Leopard Headdress

Label TextFlamboyant and ominous, a long bodied leopard reinforced the enormous power wielded by those who serve Bamileke kings. Beaded triangular patterns, said to evoke the spots of a leopard, were worn with complex indigo-dyed garments and leopard pelts. Seeing them costumed and moving en masse offers a dazzling display of a kingdom's wealth and investment in ritual control.

Object number81.17.700

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, African Art in Motion: Icon and Act, Jan. 20 - Mar. 17, 1974 (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 5 - Sept. 22, 1974). Text by Robert Farris Thompson. No cat. no., pp. 142, 228, reproduced pls. 181 (as python headdress), VI (color). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 45, pp. 98-99, reproduced (as Leopard/python headdress). Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, The Ubiquitous Bead, Sept. 5 - Oct. 25, 1987.

Credit LineGift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

Dimensions13 7/16 x 6 in. (34.1 x 15.3 cm) L.: 48 in.

MediumCloth, wood, beads, twine, string