One of Pair of Kente Wrappers
<p>Although kente is widely associated with Asante people, their Ewe neighbors also produce garments using a similar technique. The blue-and-white color scheme of these wrappers recalls early kente cloth made by both the Asante and the Ewe in the 18th century. Woven with undyed and indigo-dyed cotton, the narrow strips of light and dark rectangles are arranged to create the characteristic kente checkerboard pattern. The two cloths seen here would have been worn as a set, with the larger rectangular panel worn around the woman’s torso and the square cloth worn as shawl or a head wrap, depending on the occasion.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1925
- Dimensions
- 172 × 137.4 cm (67 3/4 × 54 1/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Ewe
Artist
Textile
Ewe or Togolese is a language spoken by approximately 5 million people in West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Togo. Ewe is part of a group of related languages commonly called the Gbe languages. The other major Gbe language is Fon, which is mainly spoken in Benin. Like many African languages, Ewe is tonal as well as a possible member of the Niger-Congo family.
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More by Ewe
Kente Wrapper
1925 · 20 strips of cotton, warp-stripe plain weave with supplementary brocading wefts and bands of weft-faced weave on warp groupings of four warps; pieced
Woman's Kente Wrappers
1925 · .1: Pieced of 15 strips of cotton, warp striped plain weave with supplementary patterning and brocading wefts and self-patterned by bands of ground weft-floats .2: Pieced of 12 strips of cotton, warp striped plain weave with supplementary patterning and brocading wefts and self-patterned by bands of ground weft-floats
One of Pair of Kente Wrappers
1925 · Pieced of 12 strips of cotton, warp stripe plain weave with supplementary patterning and brocading wefts and self-patterned by bands of ground weft-floats
Shrine Vessel
1901 · Terracotta
Kente Wrapper
1900 · Cotton, 24 narrow woven strips with bands of warp-stripe plain weave with supplementary brocading wefts, and bands of weft-faced, warp-ribbed plain weave; joined; warp fringe
One of a Pair of Shrine Figures
1875 · Terracotta
Record
Verified by WattsOSSource
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified