symbol

One of a pair of ancestor symbols, this one representing the female side. Consists of a section of wood carved into a shape with curved sides, wide in the upper part and terminating in a point, tapering towards the bottom where it is narrow and circular in section. The surface on one side has a painted image depicting a female face in frontal view, the features outlned in black in Kamasan style, with a headdress and collar painted in red and gold.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk