mourning clothing

Funeral hat made from fabric and cane. A latticework frame made of split cane is covered with yellowish white unbleached cotton. The canework crosses to form star shapes. The lower rim of the hat is decorated with a strip of brown paper all around the hat. Above this are four brown 8 petalled flower shapes made from the same paper, one each at front and back and left and right sides of the hat. Above the flowers is another band of brown paper around the hat. Above this band, at the back of the hat is more decoration made from bands of brown paper, cut into rectangles and stuck on over each other. The overlapping paper is in two rows following the crescent shape formed at either side of the hat where it bends over towards the back. There is only one band of brown paper on the crescent shape, along the edge where the two points meet. There is an aperture at this point. The sides of these two half moon shapes also slope inwards. Ht. 273mm x 203 dia.

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The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive.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