Head ornament
- Object Name
- Head ornament
- Culture / Site
- Tekna, Laayoun, Western Sahara
- Medium
- Nylon and polypropylene hair, amber, coral, shell, silver, carnelian, and glass beads
- Date
- mid-20th century
- Dimensions
- 12.5 x 18 x 2.6 cm
- Credit Line
- Art Institute of Chicago, Alsdorf Foundation-James and Marilynn Alsdorf Acquisition Fund, 2009.574. Photograph courtesy of The Art Institute of Chicago/Art Resource, NY
- Section
- Saharan Echoes
- Description
The Tekna live in the northwestern part of the Sahara and are descended from local Imazighen and Arabs who immigrated to the region between the fifteenth and seventeenth century. This Tekna headdress is made of braided and knotted synthetic hair, though in the past the hairs of a horse’s tail would have been used. Horses as well as the glass, silver, coral, shell, and hardstone beads that are used to the headdress harken back to the medieval circulation of these valued materials, exemplifying how the legacy of the past continues to impact the present.