Crown with Veil (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
The crown is the primary symbol of a Yoruba king’s authority. Crowns with veils are essential for public audience because it is taboo for people to look directly at a king’s face and head due to his intense powers. Just as one’s ibori, or altar of the head, is shielded by an elaborate house of the head (see adjacent pedestal), so too the king’s internal, spiritual self is guarded and enshrined within the crown. Thus, as the head is lord of the body in Yoruba thought, a king is the metaphorical head of the community.
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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