African hardwood Bambara (Mali) Chiwara headdress, modelled as an antelope.
In Bambara, chi wara means laboring wild animal, and is a representation of Bambara mythos about the creation of farming. These headdresses are worn during ceremonies as dancers leap and scratch the earth with their staves.
Interestingly Guillaume Apollinaire and collector Paul Guillaume published images of the Chiwara in their Sculptures nègres in 1917, while Picasso, Braque, and Les Fauves became fascinated with African sculpture and masks in general, and the Chiwara figure in particular.
