'Shushut', or beaded headdress. The headdress is made of woven textile. Beads, small bells and white buttons are threaded onto the surface of the object. There are tassels at one end of the headdress.
Shushut headdresses are worn at all times by women except for when they go to bed at night. Even then if a woman wakes up and gets out of bed to stoke the fire or feed her baby she may well put her shushut on, so integral are they to woman's sense of self.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections, can suggest corrections to our information or if you see content requiring immediate action, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
