Tingandé or tengade, traditional Peul hat, Africa

Beautiful traditional african hat which is originally the hat of the shepherds and caravaners of the peul people. It is decorated with many decorative elements in leather decorated with geometric patterns. It also has two braided straps that join and are fitted with two pompoms made of many very thin leather straps of different shades. The hat is made of finely braided straw and everything else is made of leather, both the many decorative elements and the threads or ties that hold all the leather parts in place, no other material is visible and no link or thread in synthetic material obviously. Comparing it with others, we see that the ornaments are more numerous and more original, that the pompoms are fuller, their straps thinner. All these elements suggest that it is not recent and that it is not an object made for passing tourists or else of very good quality and in a very traditional way. But not being a specialist in african art, I cannot be absolutely certain, nor date it precisely. In any case, it will make a very beautiful decorative element, very atypical, hung on a wall alone or in a collection. I have simply dusted it carefully, I will let you decide on its future maintenance (feed the leather?). It is in good condition, no part is detached, the leather is still rather supple. It just has a few marks of time: some abrasions of the leather on the edge on the underside and we can see on the underside that some pieces of leather were dyed green, but the color does not appear or no longer appears, on the extension of these pieces on the visible side. It measures approximately 32 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height. The tassel straps measure approximately 70 cm in length.