Comb

Placed in hair set with red mud and castor oil. Combs used as a headdress hold coiffure together. The birds facing one another are likely hornbills (ngungu).

The collector, Nellie Taylor, served as a nursing missionary (1900-1920), first with the Ovimbundu at Bihe, then with the Chokwe at luma Kasai. She belonged to a group who sponsored several missions across Central Africa from 1881-1931.

hair styling; decorative

Dark brown coloured wood comb made from one piece. It has thirteen long, tapered, thick teeth, with uneven spacing and carving and some that are slightly angled. The handle is rectangular and is patterned with triangles composed of incised parallel lines alternating with plain areas. The two sides of the comb differ. Projecting vertically from two top corners are two plain, geometric-shaped standing birds facing one another, silhouette-like with long beaks; beak of one broken off.