Bamileke Headdress, Cameroon

A target of feathers, cream at the bullseye and green at the ragged edge.

This headdress is Bamileke, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and is contemporary, made of chicken feathers. Feather headdresses of this type, often called juju hats, are generally associated with dignitaries in the Cameroon Grassfields, who wore them folded for ceremonies and dances. Opened flat, it forms a full disk of concentric rings. A cream center gives way to a band of slate blue, then a ring of bright red, and finally a broad fringe of deep green feathers that ruffles out at the edge. It is 30 inches in diameter and 7 high.

Folds up for a festival, opens out for a wall.