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King's Crown
Nigeria (Yoruba)
19th century
Beads, leather, canvas, and wicker
30 inches high
The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund 76.29

• According to Yoruba (YOUR-a-bah) mythology, the first Yoruba kings were the offspring of the creator, Oduduwa (oh-doo-DOO-wah).
  
• A Yoruba king's crown identifies the status of its wearer and gives the king the power to interact with the spirit world in order to benefit his people.
  
• A veil, a large face, and a group of birds are SYMBOLS that commonly appear on a Yoruba king's crown.
  

Long, long ago, Olorun (OH-low-run), the sky god, lowered a great chain from the heavens to the ancient waters. Down this chain climbed Oduduwa, Olorun's son. Oduduwa brought with him a handful of dirt, a special five-toed chicken, and a palm nut. He threw the dirt upon the ancient waters and set the chicken on the dirt. The chicken busily scratched and scattered the dirt until it formed the first dry earth. In the center of this new world, Oduduwa created the magnificent Ife (EE-fay) kingdom. He planted the palm nut, which grew into a proud tree with 16 branches, symbolizing the 16 sons and grandsons of Oduduwa.

Oduduwa was the first ruler of the kingdom and the father of all Yoruba. Over time he crowned his 16 sons and grandsons and sent them off to establish their own great Yoruba kingdoms. As descendants of the sky god, these first Yoruba rulers and their direct descendants were divine kings. Only they could wear special veiled crowns that symbolized their sacred power.

The Yoruba
The Yoruba peoples of West Africa have lived in the southwestern area of what are now Nigeria and the Republic of Benin (BE-neen) since the 11th century. The earliest Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo (oh-YO) spread over vast territories. Divine kings, descendants of Oduduwa, ruled these kingdoms, advised by councils of elders and chiefs. As part of their royal REGALIA, kings wore distinctive beaded veiled crowns.

Crowns
The beaded veiled crown, called adenla ("great crown"), is more than a symbol of kingship. Each crown embodies ideals of political and personal stability, refuge for the oppressed, salvation, and much more. Worn only on ceremonial occasions, the crown gave the king the power to communicate with his spirit ancestors in order to benefit his people. At other times it was kept on display and given the same respect and attention as the king himself. Because these crowns hold so much power, they are among the most sacred Yoruba objects.

Beginning in the 1830s, civil wars disrupted the Yoruba kingdoms. From the 1890s until the 1960s, British and French interference further challenged traditional Yoruba ways. In this climate of political upheaval, Yoruba leaders without official claims to kingship began to commission and wear veiled crowns. Although the sacred powers of Yoruba kings are limited today, disputes still rage over the rights to wear veiled crowns.

King's Crown
This 19th-century king's crown is made of thousands of tiny brightly colored glass beads. Many features of this crown are characteristic of nearly all sacred Yoruba crowns.

Veil
The most distinctive feature of this crown is the veil of beads that once cascaded over the king's face. A net of black, white, maroon, and blue beads is surrounded by multicolored strands of beads. The veil obscured the king's features to protect men and women from looking directly at his face when he was united with his powerful ancestors.

Face
A great yellow face dominates the crown. Its black-and-white almond-shaped eyes, yellow nose, and oval blue mouth are raised from the surface. The three vertical lines on either side of the nose are scars denoting the king's lineage. The face represents a royal ancestor of the king, probably Oduduwa, and unites the spirit world of the ancestors with the earthly world of the king and his people.

Projection
A tall striped projection, perhaps representing a hairstyle, stands above the face. Among some Yoruba, projections from the heads of special individuals signify spiritual power. The projection on this crown once contained a pouch of herbal medicines that gave the crown its power. For fear he would be blinded, even the king could not look inside his own crown.

Birds
Sixteen colorful beaded birds surround the king's crown. These birds signify a divine force called àshe (ah-SHE)--the power to make things happen--which only the highest Yoruba men and women possess. The birds connote the àshe of the king and of a group of elderly women called "the mothers" who support him. The mothers' special power enables them to turn into night birds who punish or destroy those who are arrogant, selfish, or otherwise immoral. On the crown, the birds symbolize the king's power and the mothers' power to protect him and the people.

Look
1. Tell or read the story of Oduduwa. What aspects of the story do you see on the crown? (The face may represent a king's ancestor or Oduduwa himself.) Does knowing the story of Oduduwa help you to understand what you see on the crown? What questions do you have about the crown's appearance that weren't answered by the story?

2. What is this crown made of? (Glass beads.) Make a shopping list of all the bead colors you would need to make this crown. Look carefully at the TEXTURE of the King's crown. If you could touch it, how would it feel? Smooth? Rough? Soft? Bumpy? Sticky? Encourage students to agree on more than one adjective to describe the crown's texture.

3. The beads that were applied to the surface of the crown are of uniform shape, size, and TEXTURE, yet the artist used the beads to define different objects and features on the crown. How did he do it? (Different colors, LINEAR rows of beads running in various directions, some applied to pieces that project out from the surface of the crown.)

Where has the artist varied the direction of the rows of beads to define objects or features? (The black outline around the yellow face, lips, and eyes; birds' eyes are circular against vertical rows of beads on the bird heads; connecting rows of beads on the fringe to form a diagonal pattern where the veil would cover the king's face.)

Where has the artist used color to define objects and features on the crown? (Lips and eyes. Entire face is a different color from the background. Birds are defined by red beaks and white and black eyes. Bands of yellow beads outline some of the wings.) Some beaded parts of the crown are raised slightly to help define features. Where are they? (Eyes, nose, and lips on the face.)

In some cases these hats symbolize special powers the wearers have. Do these hats ever give supernatural power to their owners? If not supernatural power, what kind of power might these people get from wearing special headgear? (No right answer!)

2. Bring in pictures of some other examples of courtly attire from a variety of cultures. Why do you think rulers or important people in various cultures wear this kind of REGALIA? (So that people can identify them, to follow tradition, to appear wealthy and powerful, to link them with rulers of the past.)

Do rulers or important people dress this way every day? On what occasions do they wear their full regalia? When you dress up for special occasions, what does your outfit tell people about you?

3. The birds on the crown represent a group of wise elder women. They are SYMBOLS of the king's ability to deal with the forces of evil. Why might the birds be placed on the king's crown as opposed to other parts of the king's REGALIA? (A Yoruba king uses the wisdom of these elder women to benefit his people. The symbols of the elders appear to surround the king's head, an advantageous location for imparting wisdom. Birds on the king's crown are easy for his subjects to see. The king's crown is the most sacred and powerful of all royal Yoruba objects and so is an honored location reserved for symbols of the other powerful members of the community.)

4. Some people think objects like this king's crown should be kept in museums for everyone to learn from and enjoy, even though they were never intended to be displayed that way. Others think that objects like these are treasures of the cultures they came from and should be returned. What do you think? Explain your answer. (No right answer.)