Cameroon Feather Hats in context.

With newly made Cameroon feather hats for sale by the hundred on Ebay and, I noticed this morning, a page on Pinterest devoted to “Juju Hat Decor” it seems like a good time to look at a few old images showing the real thing in the original context of court regalia in the Cameroon grassfields kingdoms of the early C20th. All photos vintage postcards circa 1900-10, author’s collection.

A Koma Weaver, 1911

From the image archive of the Frobenius Institute in Frankfurt, three views of a Koma weaver in the Atlantika mountains (then part of the German colony of Kamerun, now in Adamawa State in Nigeria, near the Cameroon border.) the watercolour above, dating from 1911,  is by Carl Arriens, while the photo and sketch below are by the great German ethnographer Leo Frobenius.

An early Cameroun chief’s robe.

Chief’s prestige robe, Grassfields region, Cameroun, early C20th. Private collection, London. Front view.

This exceptional robe is tailored from hand woven hand spun indigo dyed cotton cloth that was woven in quite wide panels. The most probable source for this cloth would be the upright single heddle looms used by women weavers in many parts of Nigeria and the western part of Cameroun, although the cloth is of a looser weave and lighter weight than  is typical of Nigerian textiles of this type. The neck area is lined with a thin check patterned linen fabric that looks to be of French origin, while the hem and sleeve areas are dyed with a type of Central European patterned indigo cotton fabric called blaudrucke  - shown below.

Both the front and the back are decorated with hand embroidered designs in white, red, and yellow cotton. The large lozenge shape that encompasses the neck may perhaps be regarded as representing a necklace from which a giant bead or pendant is suspended. Small “double gong” motifs hanging from the “belt” area  are an early representation of what would become the dominant decorative motif on later Cameroun robes,  while the small lizards and other animals are quite a distinctive and unusual feature not typically found on robes even though they are part of the design repertoire of prestige sculptures and other royal artefacts.

Chief’s prestige robe, Grassfields region, Cameroun, early C20th. Private collection, London. Front view, detail.

Chief’s prestige robe, Grassfields region, Cameroun, early C20th. Private collection, London. Back view, detail.

Chief’s prestige robe, Grassfields region, Cameroun, early C20th. Private collection, London. Back view.

The construction of this robe from broad panels of hand woven indigo dyed cloth of uncertain origin compares closely to the robe shown below, which was collected before 1908 and is in the collection of the Museum der Kulturen, Basel.

“Cameroun: boubou bali, 198 x 130 cm. Collection du missionnaire G. Spellenberg (?), datent sans doute d’avant 1908. Collection de la Mission de Bale, Museum der Kulturen, Basel.” Scanned from Bernhard Gardi ed. Le Boubou –c’est chic (Editions Christoph Merian, 2000).

Click on the photos to enlarge.

French National Archives–historic images of West African textile production.

Now online from the French Archives nationale d’outre-mer are over 5000 images taken before the 1960s in France’s former African colonies. Among the other treasures in this important resource are a number of superb images of aspects of textile production in West Africa. A few highlights are shown below.

“The weaver prepares his thread” Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, 1930-60.

“Young Bobo girl spins thread”, photographer Berthier (Joseph, Louis), Burkina Faso (1945-1961)

“Loom” Burkina Faso, 1959 – some kind of craft training school probably.

“Dyers” photographer Chéron (Georges, Gustave, René) (1882 – ?), Kaya, Burkina Faso, (1908-1934)

“Dyers” – Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

“Tukolor weavers” photographer Puigaudeau (Odette du) (1894-1991), Selibaby (Guidimakha),Mauretania, 1934.

“Hausa embroiderer”, Niger, before 1930.

“Weaving fibres of “liane floria”” photographer Krull (Germaine) (1897-1985), Bafoussam, Cameroon, 1943

“Diola-Floup weaver” Ziguinchor, Senegal, before 1960.

“Weavers” photographer Verger (Pierre) (1902-1996), Bamako, Mali, 1935/36.

“Weaving bands of ‘galak’” Chad, 1932.

“Weaver prepares his equipment” photographer Marcel Monnier, Bondoukou, Ivory Coast, 1892.

“Sudanic loom” photographer Marcel Monnier, Ivory Coast, 1892.

West African Robes: some early photos of Nigerian robes

To mark the recent update of the robe section of our gallery, today I am posting a selection of early images of this style of robe in use. Although this style of robe was made in and closely associated with the nineteenth century Sokoto Caliphate in north Nigeria, taking in Hausa, Nupe and northern Yoruba peoples, such was it’s prestige that it was traded and worn across a much wider expanse of West Africa.

Photographer unknown. Lagos, Nigeria, Circa 1890.

Photographer N. Walwin Holm or J.A. C. Holm, circa 1900-10. The Alake of Abeokuta.

Photographer unknown, Cameroun, early C20th.

Photographer unknown, Burkina Faso, early C20th. the Moro Naba, king of the Mossi, Ouagadougou.

Photographer unknown, early C20th, Tuareg Chief, Zinder, Niger.

Photographer unknown, early C20th. Hausa dance troupe, northern Nigeria.

Photographer unknown, early C2oth, Shendam, east central Nigeria.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Please visit our robe gallery to see our current stock and for more information.