Skip Navigation

Headdress (Zigiren-Wɔndɛ)

Arts of Africa

This headdress is known as zigiren-wunde, or “the new bride.” Entirely secular in nature, it celebrates the role of Baga women in both human and agricultural fertility, and in nurturing the community.

The zigiren-wunde is owned and performed by groups of young men solely for entertainment, especially at weddings. The performer wears it on top of the head, grasping the leglike projections at the base of the mask to steady it. These “shoulders” are draped with cloth, leaving the figure’s breasts exposed, and the costume is completed with the addition of a skirt of palm fiber.
MEDIUM Wood, upholstery stud
  • Place Made: Guinea
  • DATES late 19th–early 20th century
    DIMENSIONS 33 x 7 3/4 x 9 in. (83.8 x 19.7 x 22.9 cm) Base height: 2 in. (5.1 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Arts of Africa
    ACCESSION NUMBER 74.66.5
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Marcia and John Friede
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Possibly Baga. Headdress (Zigiren-Wɔndɛ), late 19th–early 20th century. Wood, upholstery stud, 33 x 7 3/4 x 9 in. (83.8 x 19.7 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcia and John Friede, 74.66.5. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 74.66.5_PS1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 74.66.5_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.