Yellow velvet and leonin fur cape (lamd)

Made with yellow velvet, completed on the shoulders by a lion' mane and enriched by various metal elements, this cape (lamd) with its typical articulated shape is part of the typology of clothes traditionally worn during cerminonial contexts ny high-ranking Ethiopian dignitaries. This kind of capes, together with warriors' diadems, named anfarro, were usually given by kings and emperors to the ras, famous for their military operations, and to their allies. In the first decades of the XX century the capes were also sent as gifts to the most important European state offices in the context of effort for the recogntion of the Kingdom and the entry into the League of Nations. This cape, on the other hand, was brought to Italy by Alessandro Gorini, a batallion officer who had fought during the war in Ethiopia.