In this textile, the seemingly random insertion of brightly colored threads breaks up the alternating deep indigo and white blocks. These threads create variations within the set theme of the checkerboard pattern.
The structure of the West African narrow-strip loom makes the checkerboard a common design. Rapidly tossing his shuttle, the weaver simply alternates sections of light and dark cross (weft) threads and pauses to insert the colored accents. With skill, he makes the ends of each strip even and the blocks align.
In many African cultures the checkerboard seems to be symbolic. Dogon peoples, for example, regard this pattern as a visual ordering of life and impose it on their cloths, their stone-edged fields and the modeled house front of the lineage head. Islamic scribes create checkerboard amulets, or "magic squares," that glorify God with precise mathematical progressions.
The band of narrow stripes on the bottom of the cloth is typical of the domestic textiles made by peoples, particularly the Bamana and Fulbe, who live along the bend of the Niger River. It was probably used in the home to divide living spaces, to cover beds and couches or to cushion the floor. Like other textiles from the region, this type of domestic cloth is traded extensively.
Description:
Blanket composed of eleven strips of blue and white cotton in a checkerboard pattern with red and yellow weft inserts and a striped border strip.
Exhibition History:
African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2013–August 12, 2019 (installed December 3, 2014 to October 4, 2016)
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