A wrap dress used by the Ashanti (and the Ewe) in Ghana. The men wear large ‘kente cloths’ (such as this one), like a toga wrapped around the body and draped over the shoulder, the women wear smaller ones. Men also weave this material in narrow, long strips and men sew these strips together. The patterns of the ‘Ashanti kente’ are mainly abstract-geometric, in vertical and horizontal stripes, which mostly form rectangles. These rectangles are scattered through with woven in, oblique bars, lozenges, prongs, points etc. in other colours or colour nuances. The colour palette of the Ashanti is based on red, blue, yellow and green in diverse combinations and shadings. The material out of which the present ‘kente cloth’ is woven, is probably imported rayon, used by the Ashanti since the 1920s. The striped patterns of the main decorated field are interrupted occasionally and alternately by yellow oblique bars (in both directions). Rectangles on the five end-stripes on both shorter sides of the cloth display woven-in, stylised birds and wide points in yellow and green. This ‘kente cloth’ has certainly been worn for a long time and shows minimal age-related damage (some small holes). Dimensions: 184 x 312 cm. First half to mid-20th century. (ME)

Provenance: Austrian Private Collection.

Lit.: 'African Textiles' by John Gillow, ill. p. 27, 34, 35, 37.