- Title
- Woman's Headdress (ganjung)
- Date Made
- circa 1850-1925
- Medium
- Turquoise, pearls, amber, and coral beads with silver, gold, and copper alloy ornamentation on leather with cloth backing
- Dimensions
- 28 7/8 x 22 1/2 x 5/8 in. (73.34 x 57.15 x 1.6 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.86.191.3
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This woman's headdress (ganjung) is a regional style of the distinctive large Tibeto-Nepalese headdresses worn by the wealthy Nyinba women of the Humla District of northwestern Nepal. The headdress is worn with the triangular fan-shaped element surmounting the head with the beaded fringe hanging down over the forehead and eyes. The long tail of the headdress hangs over the nape of the neck. The headdress is adorned primarily with turquoise and pearls, as well as gold and silver medallions. See Hannelore Gabriel, The Jewelry of Nepal (New York: Weatherhill, 1999), pp. 116-119, cover and figs. 166-169.
The ganjung is related to the perak, which is the form of woman’s headdress traditionally worn in Ladakh. The perak differs from the ganjung in the shape of its crowning elements that resemble large ear flaps. See Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997), pp. 149-152.
See also M.2024.52.114 and .297.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.
