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Headrest or headboard

16th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 341
Following their eleventh-century arrival in the Bandiagara Escarpment, the Tellem primarily resided along the arid plain. They went to great lengths to deposit their departed within the cliffside caves above. Artifacts similar to this carved wooden board have been found among women’s burials. While their exact function is unknown, scholars have speculated that these carvings were used as funerary headrests or alternatively worn atop the head to aid in balancing heavy loads. In parallel, hoe handles, bows, and arrows have been found in similar burials of men.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Headrest or headboard
  • Artist: Tellem artist
  • Date: 16th century
  • Geography: Mali, Bandiagara Escarpment
  • Culture: Tellem peoples
  • Medium: Wood
  • Dimensions: H. 1 5/8 × W. 5 1/8 × D. 6 1/2 in. (4.1 × 13 × 16.5 cm)
  • Classification: Wood-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Lester Wunderman, 1977
  • Object Number: 1977.394.64
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

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Vessel with footed base, Tellem artist, Terracotta, Tellem peoples
Vessel with footed base
Tellem artist
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Aduno Koro (Ark of the World) vessel with ancestral figures, Dogon blacksmith, Wood, Dogon peoples
Aduno Koro (Ark of the World) vessel with ancestral figures
Dogon blacksmith
16th–19th century
Headrest, Wood, pigment, Murik Lakes
Headrest
Murik Lakes
late 19th–early 20th century
Kpeliye’e headdress, Senufo artist, Wood, horns, quills, raffia fiber, cotton cloth, feathers, metal, applied organic materials, Senufo peoples
Kpeliye’e headdress
Senufo artist
19th–mid-20th century
Fragment of frontal garment, Tellem artist, Fiber, Tellem peoples
Fragment of frontal garment
Tellem artist
12th century

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