This pair of headrests is sumptuously interlinked with not one, but two sets of chains, painstakingly carved of wood. The artistry and planning required to carve both headrests and the intervening chains from a single length of wood attests to the maker’s skills. The upper platforms are gently curved in opposite directions to facilitate the comfort of the sleepers, indicating that they would not sleep side by side but with their bodies positioned on opposite sides of the headrests and their heads intimately close to one another. Indeed, these headrests show a degree of wear consonant with two individuals using them at the same time.

The ends of the upcurves are delicately incised with a series of raised dots and darkened with pokerwork. The two outer edges of the sleeping platforms have semi-circular lugs carved with spiral designs, while the inner lugs, also of the same shape, serve as the connecting surface for the upper chain that joins the two headrests. The lower chain is connected to the chamfered, two-lobed bases, each of which has the typical V shape where the lobes meet.  

The central panels of the two headrests are carved in an identical design, but being hand-carved, are not exactly the same. The ‘caryatid’ form consists of a central rectangular upright that intersects two arcs, one curving down onto the base and the other reaching upwards to support the sleeping platform. The outer surfaces of the arches and the vertical struts have carved decorations and a whorl that resembles the design on the lugs at the point where they meet.

Much has been debated as to the meaning and purpose of headrests joined together by chains. Nel has explained how acquiring paired headrests was a betrothal custom where the objects explicitly demonstrated the connection between husband and wife and between the lineages of both families. This double headrest is perhaps a declaration of an even greater degree of commitment to the union. The virtuoso carving is surely an indication not only of the pride in owning such an object but in the reverence for the ancestral associations that attach to its presence.

Images of two identical examples are reproduced – one in Art and Ambiguity37 and the other in The Art of Southern Africa: The Pethica Collection, both undoubtedly by the same carver.