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Object Timeline

1925

  • Work on this object ended.

1960

  • We acquired this object.

2003

2012

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Man's Two-horned Cap

This is a Man's two-horned cap. It is dated late 19th–early 20th century and we acquired it in 1960. Its medium is raffia, wool, cotton and its technique is twisted looping, overhand knotting, colored yarns overlaid. It is a part of the Textiles department.

This exquisite cap of office, made by a male specialist, features two striped jimbina, or horns. The horned cap was first described to Europeans by Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo, a Capuchin friar who lived in Angola from 1654 to 1670. An engraving of a chief wearing such a cap was included in his five-volume description of the lives of the Kongo and Mbundu peoples.[1]




[1] Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo, Istorica descrizione de’ tre’ regni: Congo, Matamba et Angola (Bologna: Per Giacomo Monti, 1687), referenced in Gordon D. Gibson and Cecilia R. McGurk, “High-Status Caps of the Kongo and Mbundu Peoples,” The Textile Museum Journal, IV, no. 4 (1977): 75.

This object was donated by Mrs. Benjamin Ginsburg. It is credited Gift of Mrs. Benjamin Ginsburg.

  • Cap (Spain)
  • silk.
  • Gift of Richard C. Greenleaf.
  • 1951-105-35

Our curators have highlighted 8 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Apron (Kenya)
  • glass, metal, fibers.
  • Gift of Anonymous Donor.
  • 1995-37-4
  •
  • Robe (China)
  • silk, metallic.
  • Museum purchase through gift of Erskine Hewitt.
  • 1949-41-1
  •
  • Skirt (Ivory Coast)
  • raffia.
  • Museum purchase through gift of Dr. and Mrs. Lewis Balamuth, Mr. and Mrs.....
  • 1990-133-2

Its dimensions are

H x diam. (with horns): 19.1 x 15.2 cm (7 1/2 x 6 in.)

Cite this object as

Man's Two-horned Cap; raffia, wool, cotton; H x diam. (with horns): 19.1 x 15.2 cm (7 1/2 x 6 in.); Gift of Mrs. Benjamin Ginsburg; 1960-242-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition David Adjaye Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18433051/ |title=Man's Two-horned Cap |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>