Nigerian mans shawl (C19th)

Extremely rare nineteenth century silk shawl. Woven from magenta silk "alaari" that reached Nigeria through the trans-Saharan caravan trade, used for both warp and weft, with narrow stripes of white handspun cotton at the centre and selvedge of each strip. A central block of openwork patterning, in which holes are created in the strip by tying groups of warp threads with an extra weft, provides the main decorative feature of this shawl type. The openwork block is framed on both sides and at the lower edge by supplementery weft float motifs in green imported cotton. Use of expensive silk in this quantity would have been very unusual and very prestigious, and very few of these delicate and fragile cloths were woven. Even less will have surived intact and this is only the second complete example we have seen. It is very worn and fragile but complete and intact. I shall be posting on my blog about these early shawls soon. Measurements: 78 ins x 43ins, 199 cm x 110.

For more information see the original source: www.adireafricantextiles.com/asooke5.htm

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