Textile Item Number: K2.157 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Long rectangular cotton textile made of twenty-one long, narrow, hand-woven strips sewn together by hand. The design consists of two sets large, repeating, light black coil design on a cream ground. There is a small fringe on each end.
History Of Use
Cloth woven with a tripod loom can be gifted between families, offered to influential people, or utilized as funeral shrouds. Today, the use of synthetic fibres, instead of natural handspun cotton, has become widespread. While weavers used to be almost exclusively men, women have now started adopting the technique.
Specific Techniques
Stripweaving done with a tripod loom. Stripweaving done with a tripod loom. Mende weavers of Liberia and Sierra Leone are reputed to be some of the first to use the stripweaving technique, possibly influenced by the region’s Islamization.
What
- Name
- Textile
- Identification Number
- K2.157
- Type of Item
- textile
- Material
- cotton fibre and dye
- Manufacturing Technique
- woven and sewn
- Overall
- height 315.6 cm, width 187.0 cm
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Liberia
Other
- Item Classes
- textiles
- Condition
- good