Object Name: Pair of beaded fly whisks
Place of Origin: Nigeria
Cultural Group: Yoruba peoples
Materials Used: Cloth, animal hair, glass beads, cotton thread, plant fiber, string
Dimensions: H: 89 cm, W: 29.5 cm, D: 10.0 cm (H: 35.0 in, W: 11.6 in, D: 3.9 in)
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Museum Purchase. X96.3.12

These would have been worn around the neck like the linked edan of Osugbo elders; the beaded birds on the straps are there to offer protection for one of a person’s most vulnerable pots, the nape of the neck.

Source: Drewal, H., Mason, J. (1998). “Beads, Body, and Soul – Art and Light in the Yoruba Universe”, Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. page 223