Woman's Kente Wrappers
Ewe
1925–1975
- Medium
- .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
- Dimensions
- .1: 172 × 137.4 cm (67 3/4 × 54 1/8 in.) .2: 166 × 106.8 cm (65 3/8 × 42 in.)
- Genre
- kente
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
ewecotton (textile)stripeskentecheckerboardswarp patterningclothingafricanstrip weavingbrocadingsquaresgarmentarts of AfricaCoastal West AfricaAfrican Textilesrectanglescostume20th CenturyTextileweavinggeometric motifplain weaving
About
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.
