Ade (Yoruba Beaded Crown)
The ade is the beaded crown of the Yoruba oba, the king, a cone- or basket-shaped headdress whose cascading fringe of glass beads veils the wearer's face, leaving only the mouth visible as he speaks. The patterns worked in the beads are a language of their own: birds, the Ogboni eye, the royal face, and motifs recalling Oduduwa, the founding ancestor from whom the kingship descends, whose divine gaze the veil is said to shield his subjects from. The crown is worn only at the most solemn moments, enthronement, annual festivals, the great ceremonies of the palace, and when a king dies his ade is