Producer unknown to us
Feather helmet for dignitaries
Americas, Brazil, Araguaya River
1900–1956
Raffia braid, resin, feathers of parrots and spoonbills
From the 1950s to the 1970s, Erich Wustmann (ethnologist, author) undertook numerous expeditions and journeys to collect items for museums. He sold the acquired objects to the museums in Leipzig and Dresden.
Purchased by the museum from Wustmann in 1957
SAm 21518
Feather helmets were designated for Iny-Karajá dignitaries. The helmet’s base is a tube of raffia braid that widens considerably toward the bottom. Red, green, blue, and yellow parrot feathers are glued to this base with resin, and whitish down feathers are glued to the lower brim. The narrower upper part of the tube is stuffed with grass and raffia threads, with long yellow, blue, and pink feathers of parrots and spoonbills stuffed into it. These feather helmets were considered status symbols for young future chiefs, but the collector also took photographs of a man called Uatau wearing such a helmet, who was a prominent cacique at the time.
The community of about 3,000 Iny Karajá lives along the Araguaya River in central Brazil. Their language, Inyribe, belongs to the Macro-Gê family of languages. After heavy losses in colonial conflicts in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Iny established lively trade relations with Brazil, which promoted a steady acculturation.
Ethnologist and author Erich Wustmann (1907–1994) acquired the feather headdress during his research trips in the 1950s.
Frank Usbeck