Fulani Cotton Hat, Mali

A good hat is a small roof. In the Sahel, it is practically a house.

Fulani people, Mali. Cotton, leather and rattan, seven inches high and twenty-one and a half inches across. A broad, flat cone, stitched in concentric rings of tan fiber, rimmed in dark leather. At the center, a dark oval panel of leather with a button knob, and a few small stitched bosses around it.

It looks like a shallow bowl turned upside down. In use it does a different job.

Hang it high. Let it look down on the room.