Kente Cloth Sale

We are having a summer sale of kente cloths from a British private collection assembled in the early 1990s. Click here to see the sale.

Cloth of the Month: An Ewe Chief’s Robe Cloth

E822 - Very unusual mixed strip Ewe man's cloth with seven different strip designs and exceptionally elaborate borders. The majority of Ewe cloths don't have distinct borders (unlike Asante kente) and on those that do the designs are generally quite repetitive with only subtle variations. Here though the variants in the strip pattern and their interaction with the weft blocks provide the main visual interest in the central field but the borders themselves are markedly more complex with threefold weft blocks framing a great variety of neatly woven weft float motifs.

 

This makes the borders themselves a design focus that counter balances the irregular off-beat layout of patterns within the central field.

Condition - very good, cloth is complete, there is slight discoloration in places on some white strips, probably from decades of storage in a metal trunk. Dates from circa 1900-20s. Measurement: 107 inches x 69 ins, 272cm x 175cm PRICE: Email for price.

Click here to view this cloth on our New Acquisitions Gallery and here for our selection of Ewe cloths.

Cloth of the month: An Ewe chief’s robe.

E816 - Superb complete example of a rare style of Ewe chief's cloth. In this style the weaver uses the three weft block layout typical of many early Ewe cloths but extends the length of the pattern blocks and alternates them with adjacent strips. More often than not the weft float motifs on these cloths are as here rather blocky chickens executed in orange thread, suggesting that they are all the work of a single weaver or at least a single workshop. For a more varied but incomplete example see Adler & Barnard African Majesty figure 114. A cloth in the same style in the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Dresden, was accessioned in 1910. On our piece the background cloth combines an orange warp with a black weft. In excellent complete condition. Larger than is typical for Ewe cloths. Dates from circa 1900-30. Measurement: 142 inches x 92 ins, 360cm x 234cm

The scanned photos below show the Dresden cloth, which was collected in 1910 by E. Gutschow, who noted: “Kete, country cloth from Keta. This cloth is especially made for rich people. It is artistic work with many designs.” [*]

Ewe men’s cloth, collected by E. Gutschow, 1910 in Keta, Ghana. Museum fur Volkerkunde, Dresden. Accession number 29 744.

*Source: Silvia Dolz “ Textilien aus Westafrika im Museum fur Volkerkunde Dresden” in Abhandlungen und Berichte der Staatlichen Ethnographischen Sammlungen Sachsen (2005).

Click on photos to enlarge. Click here to see E816 on our gallery site.

Two Asante Silk Kente Explored

In today’s post I will be taking a look at two extraordinary Asante silk kente men’s cloths and airing some preliminary thoughts and queries that they suggest in relation to creativity and innovation. The first, above, a predominantly green version of the classic “a thousand shields” design, is from the William Itter Collection in the USA . The second, below, that we found recently and is now in a UK private collection, is a warp stripe patterned cloth called “Ammere Oyokoman”  in the familiar red green and gold colours so favoured by Asante weavers. Both cloths are woven from silk and both can be assumed to date to the first third of the C20th.

Looking first at the green cloth, on first glance it appears to be a standard version of a familiar design, such as the cloth, also from the William Itter Collection, below.

The diagonal grid pattern in the main field of the cloth is made up of small rectangles, recalling the rectangular shape of the wood and leather shield once used by Asante warriors and giving the cloth its name Akyempem, or “a thousand shields.” Incidentally the vast majority of Asante kente cloths were named after the warp stripe pattern, this is an exception. However the technique used is quite different as detail photos show:

Compare the usual version, above, where a supplementary weft float in red and yellow on a blue and white warp striped, warp faced background, is used to create each rectangle in the grid of “shields”, with the one below:

 

Here the entire cloth is weft faced and the grid of red and yellow shields is created as weft faced rectangles using a tapestry weave  technique. I can’t recall another example of a fully weft faced Asante kente and I have certainly never seen tapestry weave used in this way. Also very unusual is the background colour that alternates picks of  yellow green and blue that blend to a muted green overall effect. These threads are not plied together to create a “tweed” in the way that Ewe  weavers sometimes do. We should also note that using this technique to reproduce the design would have been both significantly slower (as more weft threads and hence more weft picks are required) and, because it needed far more thread, considerably more expensive that the standard method.

Turning to the red Oyokoman cloth, here the notable feature is a large array of unique weft float patterns.

The grid framework imposed by the interaction of warp and weft threads naturally leads itself to the creation of diamonds, triangles, and regular stepped patterns and Asante kente weaving exploits these shapes to the full. Here though the master weaver has transcended the limitations of the form by weaving ellipses and even circles, as well as fragmenting the standard diamond shapes to create more complex composite motifs.

While my primary purpose here is simply to register, share, and admire these two wonderful cloths, to me they also raise a number of interesting questions about innovation and creativity in kente weaving and perhaps pose a challenge to any over simplistic contrast between creative expectations expressed in Asante as opposed to  Ewe textiles. Anyone familiar with the two genres is aware that there is a greater variety of styles and techniques apparent in “Ewe kente” than in Asante. As William  Itter noted in our discussion of these two cloths “regarding the controlled or restrained composure of construction and design found in Asante cloth from the more expected/unexpected variety of design in Ewe wraps.”

Here we have seen two superb examples of novel and innovative extension of established techniques that nevertheless remain within  the expected parameters of Asante kente design in terms of cloth layout, overall patterning etcetera.   Such cloths, I would suggest, arise out of a sustained interaction between an experienced master weaver and a exceptionally well informed and perceptive patron, in this context we might suppose an Asante king or senior chief with a deep knowledge and understanding of the existing pattern repertoire who is able to finance and encourage such sophisticated results over a considerable period. This hypothesis would fit with what little we know from the unfortunately rather inadequate ethnographic documentation of Asante kente production for royal patronage in weaving villages such as Bonwire. It would however, in my view, be over simplistic to contrast this with a more open pattern of patronage for Ewe cloths as alone explaining their greater variety. I will return to this complex topic in future posts.

I am very grateful to William Itter for generously sharing his photographs. My thanks also to the owner of the Oyokoman cloth.  Click on the images to enlarge.

Ewe kente covers latest “World of Interiors”

 

One of two rare Ewe cloths we sold many years back to antiques dealer Peter Hinwood that feature prominently in this months World of Interiors…

New light on an Ewe chief

In her pioneering book West African Weaving (Duckworth Press, 1975) Venice Lamb published the photograph above (source: Wilmarth family private collection) depicting an Ewe chief with  his court retainers.  She suggested that it showed an Adangbe chief and goes on to describe the features of the cloth that he is wearing as distinctive of what she calls “an earlier type of Adangbe design” , although it is unclear if she has any source for the geographic identification or is basing it only on what she perceived to be the origin of the cloth. She also regarded the picture as dating from the nineteenth century.  This photograph is interesting as there are relatively few early photographs of Ewe chiefs, perhaps because they lacked the elaborate large scale ceremonials and court paraphernalia of the Asante as well as being of lesser political significance in the Gold Coast colony.

For some years I have had a postcard that clearly shows the same man, wearing the same cloth (and the same rather odd crown.) With the photographer identified as “Cliché G.O.” the card is captioned “Palimé (Togo) – Le Chef du village de Kpandu”.  Palimé (Kpalimé) is a town in Togo quite close to the Ghana border, while Kpandu is on the Ghana side on, now on the shore of Lake Volta. Both fall within the more northern cluster of Ewe weaving groups near the town of Hohoe  (that Lamb rather confusingly identifies as the Central Ewe) rather than the more southerly Adangbe or the coastal Anlo.  Whilst there is no guarantee that the caption information is correct (misleading captions on postcards from this period are quite widespread) we can at least note that before the 1914-18 war Togo was a German colony and postcards before that date are captioned in German rather than French.

Malika Kraamer, in her unpublished Phd thesis on Ewe weaving (Colourful changes: two hundred years of design and social history in the hand-woven textiles of the Ewe speaking regions of Ghana and Togo (1800-2000), SOAS, 2005 –now online here) discusses the corpus of early photographs showing Ewe textiles (most drawn from the archives of the Basel and Bremen missions and mainly online here). Among the images that she found with the Bremen Mission is a third photograph of the same chief, again in the same attire. She notes that the same unidentified chief was shown by Lamb and perhaps influenced by her suggests it is a late C19th or early C20th image (at that point it seems she did not have access to the postcard view.)

A couple of weeks ago I was able to buy a group of three photographs from a French source whose grandfather was a trader in Togo in the early part of the twentieth century. One of these photographs, shown below, is a print of the same image as that in the Bremen archive.

Our chief wears his now familiar cloth and crown, but unlike the Bremen copy this print has two captions and, on the reverse, the photographer’s stamp. The first caption, apparently contemporaneous with the print, reads “Fia Dagadu III, Kpandu”, while the second, written in ink, reads “le seigneur de Kpandou, 1929.” On the reverse is the photographer’s stamp “Louis A. Mensah, Photographer.”

In addition to finally identifying this distinguished looking chief, for me these images raise a number of interesting questions about Ewe textile production and use. Why is the same cloth worn in all three photographs ? Is it the only one that he had or his favourite among several ? Might there be other, earlier or later, photographs of him wearing a different cloth ?

What can we say about the cloth itself ? Malika Kraamer identifies the style as atisue based on the short weft faced block structure. As she discussed, both the naming and the design evolution of Ewe textiles were extremely fluid and complex. This type of cloth, in which almost square weft-faced blocks alternate with similarly sized warp-faced sections decorated with supplementary weft float motifs, was certainly among the more elaborate and highly prized types woven in the first half of the twentieth century. A fine example that is on our gallery at the moment is shown below.

Is Venice Lamb correct in attributing this style of cloth primarily to the Adangbe weavers (Kraamer calls the same group Agotime after the main weaving village in the area) ? I would suggest that at present the necessary field research that might perhaps allow us to clearly attribute many of the huge variety of Ewe cloths to specific locales has yet to be carried out, although based on Kraamer’s work some preliminary suggestions for some styles might be possible How did geographical variation interact with individual innovation, workshop styles etcetera ? We simply don’t know.  We do know however that cloths are highly mobile artefacts, with prized pieces being traded over a wide area. Did master weavers whose work was in demand also move to supply wealthy patrons ?

And what about the odd crown ? Both colonial authorities and European traders imported items of royal regalia and prestige goods that they gave or sold to local rulers they wished to influence. The tiger patterned rug in the third photograph clearly falls into this group and I would suggest the crown does also.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Click here to view our current selection of Ewe textiles.

Cloth of the month: an unusual Ewe chief’s robe

E787 - Exceptional Ewe chief’s cloth in superb, complete, condition. This unique cloth provides a textbook exemplar of the way in which an Ewe master weaver can constrain his use of colours and patterns to only a small subset of their available repertoire and then explore and improvise on the possibilities offered to create a new and distinctive design. Red and then yellow predominate on a dark green background. Weft faced blocks alternate with a double zigzag supplementary weft float pattern.

This pattern is subtly modified in a few places or substituted in others by a wider single zigzag in varying colours, note for example in the central strip of the detail below. The colours of the weft faced blocks are varied and occasional pattern changes introduced within them.

The result is not only a unique pattern but an exploration of similarity and difference to beautiful effect.

Dates from circa 1930-50. Condition: Excellent, complete, no patches or stains. Size: 119 ins x 80, 329cm x 205, PRICE: Email us for price

Click on the photos to enlarge. For our current updated selection of Ewe cloths click here.

Looking back at some exceptional Ewe cloths from our archive.

As I look back on some of the more unusual and significant pieces from our archive of sold cloths I am struck once again by the diversity and sophistication of the finest Ewe weaving. As I noted in an earlier post I have been assembling a selection of images of Ewe cloths on my Pinterest page here. This project is continuing and I will be adding other pages looking at other major groups of West African textiles over the coming months. Visit Pinterest for the full group but here are some highlights.

Ewe men's cloth, early C20th: Usually these weft faced cloths are only red, blue and white, but on this one the weaver went wild with new colours. The only example I have seen like it. Now in a private collection.

Ewe men's cloth, circa 1900: the weaver combines a supplementary floating warp and a floating weft to create the tooth-like pattern in the black squares. This is the only time I have seen this rare technique on a weft-faced cloth. Now in private collection.

Ewe men's cloth, early C20th: Silk weft motifs on cotton ground, the black dyed cotton in the weft stripes had perished. Now in private collection.

Ewe men's cloth, early C20th: On this exceptional cloth the weaver has placed the supplementary weft floats on top of the weft faced blocks rather than between them as is typical. Now in the Metropolitan Museum.

Click on the photos to enlarge. To see our current stock of Ewe cloths click here.

Cloth of the month: a remarkable mixed pattern Ewe kente

Ewe767 - Highly unusual cloth in which a master weaver has used a virtuoso display of complex and finely controlled supplementary weft float motifs to unite a varied group of different warp stripe patterned and coloured strips. Motifs include two men in a canoe, a man with a caged bird, crocodiles, chiefs with umbrellas, various complex multibladed ceremonial swords etcetera. Cloths with this level of decoration were extremely expensive to commission and would only have been worn by the wealthiest men. Dates from circa 1930-50s. Condition excellent. Size: 118 ins x 74, 300cm x 188.

Click on the photos to enlarge..

Please visit our updated gallery to see some of our current stock of Ewe kente cloths here.

Ewe weaver Fiawodzo Anatsui, father of the artist El Anatsui.

“El Anatsui’s father Fiawodzo Anatsui, wearing a narrow band- woven cloth on the of the Price of Wales’s visit to the Gold Coast colony in 1925” – photo from El Anatsui: Art and Life by Susan Mullin Vogel (Prestel 2012.)

Anatsui’s father was a master weaver and I think may be assumed to have woven this remarkable cloth himself. The texts we can see read “Lean liberty is better than fat slavery” and “God save the King.” Woven texts in English, usually some kind of homily or brief saying drawn from Christian literature rather than the Ghanaian tradition of proverbs were often a feature of  some Ewe cloths in this period and can be seen as an expression of pride in newly attained literacy. However the style of this cloth with it’s detailed figurative motifs and in particular the clusters of small geometric patterns on a plain ground is distinctive.

The only similar cloth I am aware of is shown below in a photograph from Malika Kraamer’s Phd thesis Colouful Changes: Two Hundred Years of Social and Design History in the Hand-woven Textiles of the Ewe-speaking Regions of Ghana and Togo (1800-2000) (SOAS, 2005).

Kraamer notes (page 446) that this cloth is called “father of the chief” and was woven in the 1940s by a weaver called Togbe (chief) Gana. I wonder is perhaps he was an apprentice of Anatsui senior.

African Textiles–details from the shop

Weft-faced Ewe cloths, Ghana/Togo

Yoruba adire cloths, Nigeria

Indigo striped strip weaves, Ivory Coast.

Mostly blankets from Mali.

Mossi indigo cloths, Burkina Faso.

Yoruba indigo cloths, Nigeria.

Ewe men’s cloths, Ghana/Togo.

Dioula and Bondoukou men’s cloths, Ivory Coast.

For other views of these cloths please visit our website.

Cloth of the month–an exceptional Bondoukou man’s cloth.

fr473 - One of a very small number of museum quality Bondoukou men's cloths, this subtle and beautiful piece uses complex blocks of coloured weft threads muted by the predominant indigo warp as the sole decorative effect. Although this is a very old decorative technique found in some of the earliest Ghanaian textiles the sophisticated effect achieved here by varying the colours and the placement of blocks is to my knowledge unique. One strip is missing from each edge (they were likely removed because they were excessively frayed) but the cloth is otherwise in very good condition with no patches, holes, or stains. Dates from C19th or early C20th. Measurements: 118ins x 71ins, 300cm x 180cm. PRICE: Email for price.

Bondoukou is in the north east of Ivory Coast, not far from the border with Ghana. Culturally and historically  it shares many features with the nearby Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana, such as small Akan kingdoms and chieftaincies ruling primarily farming peoples and significant communities of Muslim traders of Malian ancestry. The textiles of this region, as I discussed in my article in Hali magazine a few years ago, now on my website here, share features with both Asante and Ewe cloths from Ghana and with Ivoirian cloths of the Guro and Baule.

Two cloths from the collection of the Museum de Kulturen, Basel, published in the important exhibition catalogue Woven Beauty: The Art of West African Textiles edited by Berhard Gardi (Basel, 2009) illustrate the early use of the same technique.

This cloth, collected in 1840, is the oldest documented kente in the world. Here red, yellow, and blue weft stripes are muted by the white warp. The author notes that it may be attributed to either an Asante or an Ewe weaver – although I would suggest the red edge strip is strongly indicative of an Ewe origin.

This second piece, collected in 1886, is attributed by the author to the Asante on the rather weak grounds that the collection location is nearer Asante than it is to the Ewe. It is closer to our cloth in that indigo and white stripes are used in the warp although the variety of weft colours is still much less, and the pattern layout much less sophisticated. Click on the photos to enlarge. More Bondoukou cloths on our website here.