Cap. Culture: Slovak. Date: 1840-70.Similar to that of the wheat ear, the pomegranate motif is representative of fertility and growth due to the abundance of seeds produced from a single fruit. The vibrant embroidery of the Hron Valley region of Polokna, Slovakia is evident in this particularly lively cap.This object was collected by Stewart Culin (1858-1929) during a collection expedition in 1921. Culin was the Brooklyn Museum's first Curator of Ethnology, serving from 1903 to 1929. Possessing an insatiable curiosity and appetite for collecting objects of all kinds, Culin conducted over twenty worldwide collecting expeditions between 1901 and 1928. The trips covered American Indian territories, New England, Asia, India, Great Britain, and all of Eastern and Western Europe. The seven expeditions between 1917 and 1928 were specifically focused on collecting regional textiles and costumes from Eastern and Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, New England. Culin's goals for these trip