The patterns on the border of this cloth are created by supplementary wefts that pass over and under bundles of warps, a technique that creates a marked contrast of light on dark.
Description:
Woman's cotton wrapper composed of eighteen panels handsewn at the selvedges in indigo dyed blue with contrasting white parallel stripes and geometric white designs of triangles and zigzags, as well as tassles, at the end of the wrapper.
Provenance:
Venice and Alastair Lamb, England, purchased in Bonwire, Ghana, 1969 to 1985
Exhibition History:
Patterns of Life: West African Strip-Weaving Traditions, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 28, 1987-February 29, 1988
Published References:
Gilfoy, Peggy. 1987. Patterns of Life: West African Strip Weaving Traditions. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 71, no. 20.
Lamb, Venice. 1975. West African Weaving. London: Duckworth, p. 113, no. 190.
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National Museum of African Art, National Museum of Natural History, purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, 1983-85, EJ10593