New Book: “Adire Cloth in Nigeria 1971–2016”

In part an updated version of Doig Simmonds and Nancy Stansfield’s classic 1971 book on adire, this new work is without doubt the  most useful and comprehensive book on the Yoruba tradition of indigo resist dyeing to date.  Although published as a print on demand book  and with budget limitations apparent in the reproduction of some images the authors add new material such and have drawn together the most important of previous sources, including Jane Barbour’s important articles, and an interesting article by John Picton that even I had missed. I have scanned the back cover, contents page and a typical page below. Click on the photos to enlarge. The book may be ordered direct from Doig at doigds@gmail.com priced at GBP18 plus postage.

Some comments on the diisa

Happy to get some interesting comments on yesterday’s post on the diisa, a long fringed indigo men’s shawl, through my Facebook and Instagram pages.

Malian artist and master dyer Aboubakar Fofana commented:

“these two photos are amazing. The dissa shawl was such an important piece for a man from this region. It was given to a young man by his mother when he got married. She would have saved for this shawl since her son was very young- they were a lot of work and were worth the same as 10 head of cattle. They were indigo dyed, and when the man died, this shawl would be his shroud. The celestial blue of indigo would help him pass from this world to heaven. I'm very proud to be making a modern interpretation of the dissa, with its long fringes, and I hope I am carrying on the tradition of something important in my culture.”

And Belgian art historian Patricia Gerimont, who is working on a book on indigo dyeing in Mali, supplied this information on indigo in Burkina Faso (my translation.)

“the indigo shawls and wrappers in Burkina are dyed by a specific group called the Yarsé, and also by other groups of Marka dyers. The Yarsé speak Mossi but are of Marka origin, you also find them in Dogon country under the name Yélin.”

And here is another photo of Samory Touré wearing his diisa.

The Diisa, an indigo scarf of the Sahel.

The photo, by photographer Edmond Fortier, shows the Dioula warlord Samory Touré wearing on his head a plain fringed indigo headscarf called a diisa. In a brief discussion of these distinctive cloths in his book Textiles du Mali (Bamako 2003) Bernhard Gardi suggests these cloths were usually a mark of rank. Similar cloths, worn around the hips by young Dogon men, are seen in the photo below, also by Fortier.

And by a Wolof trader below:

Looking at the group of long fringed cloths from Burkina Faso that I posted on my site last week, one of which is shown below, and the remainder here, it seems likely that the tie-dye patterned examples form a previously unnoticed regional variation on this wider tradition of men’s prestige cloths.

Mossi Indigo Shawls

Rare variant style of vintage Mossi indigo shawls from Burkina Faso with 10 inch long braided fringes and tie dye patterning. There is a deluge of mostly very mediocre indigo dyed cloths coming out of Burkina at the moment but careful searching can uncover some gems amongst them. Message me for sizes and prices.

New book: “Indigo Quilts–30 Quilts from the Poos Collection” by Kay and Lori Lee Triplett

I usually steer clear of commenting on books about African-American quilting and apparent affinities with aspects of African textiles as it is a controversial topic that, to be honest, doesn’t directly impact on my own interest in understanding more about the history of West African textiles themselves.  However this welcome book by quilt and textile collectors Kay and Lori Lee Triplett breaks new ground by looking instead to the indigo fabric used in making the quilts and a detailed, archive research based, exploration of the role of African-American slaves and ex-slaves in the early production of indigo resist dyed cloth in the Americas. This is preceded by a stimulating overview of the history of indigo dyeing within West Africa, and illustrated with both West African textiles and a selection of remarkable antique indigo and white quilts from their collection.

An Indigo Strip Weave Robe from Togo

AGB114 - Much prized by lovers of indigo, these smock-like robes were worn by hunters and other senior men in the forested central and northern regions of the Benin Republic and Togo. A rare image of one being worn by the Paramount Chief of the Cabrais (today Kabiye or Kabye) prople, circa 1930, is shown below.

Hand-tailored from three different patterned indigo hand spun cotton thread strip weaves with a plain indigo in a lighter shade lining the shoulders and hem. Ten years or so ago there were quite a few of these around in Accra but more recently they have become rather scarce in acceptable condition and prices for rare unpatched and unstained examples as good as this have risen accordingly.

Condition: excellent. Age: first half of C20th. Measures: approx. 43 inches x 57, 110cm x 145.

Click on the photos to enlarge. To see this and other robes we have for sale click here.

Indigo Details

Mossi strip weave, Burkina Faso.

Yoruba stitch-resist adire, Nigeria, 1960s.

Strip weave, Niger, mid C20th.

Hausa strip weaves, Nigeria, circa 1970.

Yoruba strip weave aso oke, Nigeria, early C20th.

Yoruba strip weave aso oke, Nigeria, early C20th.

Yoruba starch resist adire eleko, Nigeria, circa 1960s.

Hausa stitch resist, Nigeria, circa 1970.

Efik stitch resist, Nigeria, mid C20th.

Please visit our website to view our selection of indigo cloths.

An exceptional silk and cotton Yoruba wrapper.

NW513 -Fine and rare Yoruba women's wrapper cloth dating from late C19th or early C20th with an exceptionally complex and subtle array of warp stripes incorporating magenta trans-Saharan silk "alaari" in an indigo dyed hand spun cotton ground. Unlike strip woven aso oke produced by male weavers, these cloths were woven in two wide panels on an upright single heddle loom by a woman weaver. The use of silk in these women's weave wrappers was an established tradition in the C19th and at the start of the C20th, allowing wealthy women to outshine the plainer blue and white style.

However today it is extremely hard to find surviving examples and almost all those we do see have been patched or repaired. These cloths are not well represented in museum collections and published sources, reflecting their rarity but one piece collected before 1890 and now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York may be seen here. This is a particularly fine completely intact example in excellent condition and with an unusually elaborate configuration of stripes. It would have been an heirloom cloth passed down from mother to daughter over several generations. It retains it's very neat hand stitched seams throughout. Measurements: 78ins x 66ins, 200cm x 168cm

Click on the photos to enlarge.‘ To see this cloth and others in our online gallery of Nigerian women’s weaving click here.

“Visvim” and Indigo strip weave

From Japanese cult brand Visvim, men’s jacket tailored from faded Burkinabe indigo cloths…

New at the shop today–Burkina Faso indigo

One of a group of Burkina resist patterned indigos I just found in Accra. I haven’t seen this type of patterning on these cloths before.

Cultural Event in Taraba State, Nigeria

Some interesting images taken recently at a cultural event involving masquerade performances, taken recently in Bete or Betso Takum LGA Taraba state. This is a comparatively remote area close to the border with Cameroon. I am particularly interested to see indigo adire type resist dyed cloths still in use, a feature which is rarely seen in Nigeria today. Source: King Agbo Ebonyi on Facebook.

Details: reverse face of a Yoruba agbada embroidery

Two views of the reverse face of the embroidered spiral on the back of an early Yoruba agbada men’s robe at our shop. Most robes of this period are lined in the neck and pocket area with imported pale blue trade cloth, but in this example indigo dyed strip weave asooke is used to rather pleasing effect.

Vintage African Textile Cushions

We now have a small selection of cushions handmade from our vintage African textiles. Indigo strip weave cloths from Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso are backed with indigo dyed antique French linen. Beige Yoruba strip weave aso oke from Nigeria is backed with vintage hemp fabric from Hungary. All have high quality feather pads and zip closures. Cloths used are carefully selected for neatness and aesthetic appeal. As each cloth is unique the number of cushions in each design is limited to four or six pieces. All cushions are priced at US$165/GBP95 each.

To view our currently available selection please click here.

Cloth of the month: an early indigo dyed aso oke wrapper.

“AS492 - Exceptional and early indigo strip weave aso oke from the Yoruba region of Nigeria, with a beautiful and subtle effect achieved by pale indigo warp stripes against a dark indigo check background, with fine hand spun cotton used throughout. The slight sheen apparent in the photo is an effect of a recent washing and starching to prepare it for resale in Nigeria, an old tradition that is still maintained in some districts - it is less visible in reality than under the photo lighting. Retains its original hand stitched seams throughout and is in excellent condition. Age circa 1900. Measurements: 80 ins x 56, 203cm x 142cm.” – on our gallery here.

This cloth is called an iro, and would have been worn as a wrap around skirt by a wealthy Yoruba lady on an important occasion such as a wedding or a chieftaincy ceremony. It would have formed part of a set of cloths woven in the same pattern, along with two or three smaller pieces worn as shawl, headtie, and  sometimes a hip cloth.  What makes this an exceptional piece ? To my eye what singles out this cloth is the quality of the indigo dyeing. Very dark, almost black, indigo dyed strip weave cloth was prestigious and expensive because of the high number of immersions in the dye required to achieve that colour. When patterned as a fine check or plaid of lighter blue or white threads, it was known as etu, or guinea fowl, after the speckled plumage of the bird. In the Yoruba aso oke tradition etu formed part of a threefold classification of high status cloths along with magenta silk alaari obtained from the trans-Sahana caravan trade network, and local beige wild silk called sanyan.

On this cloth the small scale check of etu is replaced by a larger check design that was called petuje, that literally translates as “kill and eat guineafowl” but meant “surpasses etu”. Here though it is combined with warp stripes in a beautifully dyed mid-blue. One stripe runs along the selvedge of each strip while a second is set slightly off centre to create the regular layout.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Our galleries of indigo cloths are here and here.

The original work wear - Mossi Indigo Cloths from Burkina Faso

The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, numbering some five to six million people. In the centuries preceding colonisation by the French at the end of the C19th the Mossi had used their skill as cavalry to maintain a large and powerful empire. Both weaving and indigo dyeing flourished in the region. Today vintage Mossi indigo cloths, woven from soft handspun cotton and faded through years of heavy use to a variety of subtle shades, are in great demand. 

 

“Weaving is an ancient tradition in the area now inhabited by the Mossi. Several of the original clans include stories of weavers in their myths of origin, and among clans near Guilongou, between Ouagadougou and Kaya, traditions state that the founding ancestor was a weaver who descended to earth on the threads of his warp carrying a wooden mask.

Working exclusively during the dry season, usually in large workshops that are organized and financed by merchants with adequate capital to purchase homespun or factory-spun thread, young men from 10 to 30 years of age produce vast quantities of plain, white cotton bands on horizontal narrow-warp looms.” Source: Dr. Christopher Roy, “The Art of Burkina Faso” Art & Life in Africa, University of Iowa.

Mossi indigo dyers, vintage postcard, circa 1910.

Working with partners in Burkina Faso we collect well used cloths from Mossi villages, then carefully select, sort, and wash them.  The colour of these pieces is fast and will not bleed on further washing or handling. We reject inferior recently made pieces or cloths aged artificially as the weave quality and handling are unsatisfactory. Our customers have used our Mossi indigos as shawls,scarves and throws, to tailor jackets and waistcoats, for upholstery, cushions, and a variety of other interiors projects. Wholesale prices are available on request.

At the moment in the shop we have a small group of beautiful hand made cushions backed with vintage indigo dyed French linen.

Cushions made from Mossi indigo cloths (not from us) can be seen in the June 2014 issue of World of Interiors below.

To view some of our current stock, along with other vintage West African indigo textiles on our website click here. Click on the photos to enlarge.