NIGERIA Yoruban Crown (Aden’la)

Among the Yoruban people, beaded objects were associated with the gods and were traditionally reserved for use by the king who was believed to possess supernatural powers, acting as a link between his people, the ancestors, and the gods. The faces on the crown are thought to symbolize the king’s connection between the past and the present. The bird images allude to the king’s mystical role as intermediary between the worlds of gods and of men.