Thursday, 26 March 2015

Cloth of the month: A fine natural dyed Hausa blanket.

AS523

AS523 - Fine Hausa blanket collected before World War II. Although cloths such as this were doubtless once widely available in the north of Nigeria few examples from this period have survived and they are not well represented in museum collections. Unlike more common examples from the 1960s it is woven from hand spun cotton throughout (by the 1960s weavers were using machine spun cotton for the warp) and the tapestry weave inserts are dyed with natural dyes. This cloth was unused when collected and is in very good condition, dates from the 1930s. Measurement: 97 inches x 57 ins, 246cm x 146cm

AS523d

AS523d1

Click on the photos to enlarge. To see this cloth on our galley click here.

We have just acquired a group of more recent Hausa blankets from the 1960s that will be posted on the gallery in the coming weeks.

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