Context (Amendments / updates)
Julian Jacobs cross-referenced this object with Z 2631 and added the cultural group "Tangkhul" in square brackets to the catalogue card.
Event Date 23/11/1988
Author: Mark Elliott

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Description (CMS Description)
Conical man's hat or ?helmet made of coarsely plaited brown cane. Two frontal discs or "ears" covered with red seeds surrounded white croix seeds "Job's tears" which is surrounded by short fringe of black hair. Plume of small downy feathers hangs down back. Wooden slat attached vertically to front centre. Thick cord jaw strap. Worn with jaw piece like 1919.103.17. Tangkhul Naga Condition: Feathers dirty. " Ears loose and secured with microfilament.; Good
Event Date 15/2/1992
Author: maa

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Context (CMS Context)
Cf. also Z 2631; Exhibited: "The Nagas" CUMAA July 1990 - April 1992.; Collected by: Butler.Captain.John;
Event Date 15/2/1992
Author: maa

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Context (Display)
A similar head dress, with a crest of hornbill tail feathers, is illustrated in Richard Kunz & Vibha Joshi (eds) (2008) "Naga: A Forgotten Mountain Region Rediscovered". Museum der Kulturen Basel/Christoph Merian Verlag, p.174:
"321 Warrior's ceremonial headdress (ya-khat)
Tangkhul Naga, Manipur, India; first half 20th century
Bamboo, wood, brass, steel, cotton, chicken and hornbill feathers, Job's tears, Crab's Eye seeds, human hair;
H: 141 cm, W: 95cm
Purchased 1985 (Inv.-No. IIa 10039a, b, c), MKB
Event Date 2008
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Display)
A similar head dress, with a crest of hornbill tail feathers, is illustrated in Jacobs et. al (2012[1990]) "The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India". Edition Hansjörg Mayer, p.229. The description (p.228) reads: "Right: Male headdress of hornbill feathers, and jaw piece decorated with red seeds and hair fringes. Tangkhul. PC."
Event Date 2012
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (CMS Context)
The box list notes Z 2631 as present in this box but no object with this number has been found. Box list also notes in Anita Herle's hand (undated but probably c.1992 after Naga exhibition) that this object is also numbered Z 2631, but this number is not visible on the object.
Event Date 13/11/2014
Author: Rachel Hand

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Context (CMS Context)
http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/naga/record/r10114.html

"Conical helmet of crudely plaited rattan cane, ornamented with two frontal discs inlaid with red and white seeds, surrounded by fringe of hair; pendant of human hair at back at back and bamboo knife attached to front. Chin strap of native cotton. [The 'pendant' is definitely not human hair, but is of soft grey feathers. The 'knife' is of the same shape (with notch and hole) as the supporting pieces for the two discs, and quite probably supported a third disc, now missing. Almost certainly Tangkhul, and the corresponding half of [1919.103.17]
Event Date 12/1/2016
Author: Olivia Maguire

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Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2016.3585 | Remedial
Event Date 10/11/2016
Author: Kirstie Williams

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Description (CMS Description)
Conical man's hat or helmet made of coarsely plaited brown cane. Two frontal discs (or ears) covered with red seeds surrounded white croix seeds "jobs tears" which is surrounded by short fringe of black hair. Plume of small downy feathers hangs down back. Wooden slat attached vertically to front centre. Thick cord jaw strap.
Event Date 7/12/2016
Author: maa

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Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2016.3340 | Remedial
Event Date 18/5/2016
Author: Kirstie Williams

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Context (Display)
'Another India: Explorations and Expressions of Indigenous South Asia' 07/03/2017 - 22/04/2018 MAA exhibition label text reads:

A head-dress of the Tangkul Nagas

Captain John Butler, Deputy Commissioner in the Naga Hills district from 1869 to 1875, was the first British officer posted to the area. For much of his time he was involved in contentious negotiations of the district’s border with the neighbouring Kingdom of Manipur. Artefacts he had collected came to the Museum from Sidney H. Cotton in 1919. We don’t know when or how they were acquired but it is likely that this elaborate head-dress from the Tangkhul Nagas of Manipur came into his possession in the course of his explorations of the border.


1. Head-dress (ya-khat or lahupa)

This extraordinary head-dress is sometimes referred to as a lahupa, the name of a group with which it was once associated. The red seeds come from the ‘coral tree’ (Erythina) and the white beads are job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi). This artefact came to Cambridge broken and was restored. The brass disc is not original, but an uncatalogued disc found in the Naga collections to replace the one which would have been attached to the front.

Tangkhul Naga. Ukhrul, Manipur Collected by John Butler, circa 1870 1919.103.17 & 1919.103.18
Brass disc Z 40121 B
Event Date 22/3/2017
Author: Remke Velden

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Exhibition (Li Ka Shing Gallery)
EXH.2017.2 | Another India: Explorations and Expressions of Indigenous South Asia
Event Date 8/3/2017
Author: Remke Velden

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Description (Physical description)
Original Catalogue card description: 19.103.18 Assam Conical helmet of coarsely plaited rattan cane. Ornamented with 2 frontal discs inlaid with red and white seeds - surrounded by fringe of hair. Pendant of human hair at back and model bamboo knife attached to front. Chin strap of native cotton. D. S.H. Cotton.
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Other)
Accession Register entry:
Accession Register Vol. 10 (1916-1920), p. 112
1919.103(1-36)
A Comprehensive set of Naga dresses (hats +c) and personal ornaments decorated with tusks, seeds, hair and feathers; an iron knife in bone and bamboo sheath; a barbed incised iron arrow-head; bone implement (? uses), and a bamboo receptacle with a cup cover.
Assam
Sidney H. Cotton, Esq.
Event Date 3/4/2017
Author: Mark Elliott

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Context (Amendments / updates)
Stored with the display mount from Another India
Event Date 6/6/2018
Author: rachel hand