Headrest with staff,

late 19th–20th century

Headrests are among the most elegant household items from southern Africa. Placed under the ear and cheek or below the nape of the neck, these wooden pillows supported the owner’s head and protected elaborate coiffures during sleep. The raised platform was believed to encourage a deep sleep and thereby promote dreams, an important function for the Tsonga and northern Nguni, who used the oneiric state to communicate with deceased family members. By facilitating these exchanges, the headrests themselves gained spiritual significance. They were often buried with the owner upon death, perhaps extending the headrest’s efficacy beyond the grave; they could also be destroyed after death or passed down to an heir. Headrests from southern Africa take many different shapes and were produced by artists who traveled throughout the region, making attributions of style, ethnicity, and geography particularly challenging given the dearth of collecting data and provenance records. The striking double headrest with snuff containers, intended for a husband and wife, is deftly carved from a single piece of wood. The tobacco mixture in the containers was mildly hallucinogenic and would have been smoked before bed, perhaps to encourage a vivid dream life. The headrest with scepter or wand is an inventive combination of two utilitarian objects. The scepter/wand runs through the two support legs of the headrest and terminates in a flat disk. The design allows the owner to attach a bundle to the scepter/wand for carrying, as well as to use the headrest for sleeping when traveling. The elongated, geometrically patterned headrest has a gently sloping platform supported by three split legs. The outer legs are carved with a short band of horizontal ridges above vertical ridges, a decoration common to Swazi headrests. The central leg is carved with a grid of raised squares called <em>amasumpa</em>, or warts, typical of Zulu decoration. The motif is associated with herds of cattle and may derive from royal insignia. The headrest’s length suggests that it could have been used by two people or functioned as a stool. The imaginatively designed swaybacked headrest carved with rounded features has a markedly zoomorphic form. Its swollen legs, short tail-like ends, and slightly concave underbelly create a striking allusion to cattle, a primary source of wealth for the northern Nguni. Cattle also were believed to mediate between the worlds of the living and the dead, and until the early twentieth century, both cattle and headrests were important elements of a bride’s dowry. It is possible that this headrest was commissioned for a wedding.