Somali Headrest with Finely Detailed Side Panels

Somali headrests and spoons are often misidentified as Boni. The appellation is incorrect, as historically the Boni or Aweer people were a small ethnic group subsisting on hunting, foraging and collecting honey and other forest products to trade with neighboring people on the fringes of their coastal forest redoubt. Hunter-gatherers have no need for headrests, especially lightweight, portable types such as this example. Furthermore, Boni is a Somali-derived derogatory term for people of low caste. It is not the proper name for any ethnic entity.

The Somali people, meanwhile, are savanna-dwellers who herd goats, sheep and camels. Traditionally, Somali herders tended their livestock during daylight hours with little on their person but a headrest and a cluster of improved sticks. Headrests were made by craftsmen in a limited variety of forms of which this particlar two-posted style was among the most widespread. The shape allows the headrest to slide over the hand, freeing the fingers to encircle livestock prods, throwing sticks and sometimes a bow. (Arrows were carried in a tubular quiver slung over the shoulder.) Not all such headrests carry the refined and complex motifs we see here on the seat’s flanks. Nonetheless, the interlocking design is frequently encountered and relates to ancient Azanian motifs otherwise encountered in coastal architecture. $575

6.5″

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