Object Details
- Label Text
- Asante weavers, famous for their bright silk kente cloths, also created cloths with sophisticated patterns in less costly dark blue and white cotton. These cloths are commissioned for ceremonial occasions and their patterns reflect the patron's personal taste and current fashion.
- Checked patterns, which have been found in archaeological sites in Mali's caves, had become part of West African weaving traditions by the 11th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, cotton trade cloths from India and Europe reinforced and influenced the Asante stripe-and-check tradition.
- Description
- Wrapper composed of fifteen strips of cotton fabric, dyed with indigo, and white warp pin stripes and checks.
- Provenance
- Purchased Bonwire, Ghana, 1974
- Exhibition History
- Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity, Newark Museum, September 15, 1998-January 3, 1999; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 12, 1999-January 2, 2000; Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, May 13-July 30, 2000; Anchorage Museum of History and Art, November 19, 2000-February 25, 2001; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, April 14-July 15, 2001; Oakland Museum of California, October 13, 2001-January 15, 2002; Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, February 23-June 16, 2002
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Asante artist
- Date
- Early-late 20th century
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase
- Medium
- Cotton, indigo dye
- Dimensions
- H x W: 132.3 x 235 cm (52 1/16 x 92 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Textile and Fiber Arts
