GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Aristocratic women wore a skirt like this one as a wrapper over an even longer skirt on very special occasions. They secured the skirts with a belt embroidered with cowries, which served as currency before the introduction of coins and paper money. The skirts were produced in stages by male weavers and female embroiders and were expensive to obtain.
This overskirt appliquéd with raffia cloth patches and imported cotton ticking has a cut-pile border edged with an encased flexible reed. First, men wove the raffia cloth, and then women embroidered patches. An early visitor to the Kuba Kingdom noted that patches functioned both as decoration and to patch holes that resulted from the raffia cloth being pounded until it was supple. The patches were named according to their shapes. For example, the L or comma shape is called shina mboa (“the tail of a dog”). In Western countries, ticking was used to cover mattresses, but in Africa, it was a luxury item.
Adapted from
- Roslyn Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 248-249
- Roslyn Walker, Add to, Take Away: Artistry and Innovation in African Textiles, Label text, 2014.
NOTES
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PROVENANCE
2005: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Andres Moraga, Berkeley, California
The main source for this provenance is the copy of the invoice dated March 23, 2005, in the Collections Records object file (2005.41).
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Apply to objects where number equals 2005.41
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General Description
Aristocratic women wore a skirt like this one as a wrapper over an even longer skirt on very special occasions. They secured the skirts with a belt embroidered with cowries, which served as currency before the introduction of coins and paper money. The skirts were produced in stages by male weavers and female embroiders and were expensive to obtain.
This overskirt appliquéd with raffia cloth patches and imported cotton ticking has a cut-pile border edged with an encased flexible reed. First, men wove the raffia cloth, and then women embroidered patches. An early visitor to the Kuba Kingdom noted that patches functioned both as decoration and to patch holes that resulted from the raffia cloth being pounded until it was supple. The patches were named according to their shapes. For example, the L or comma shape is called shina mboa (“the tail of a dog”). In Western countries, ticking was used to cover mattresses, but in Africa, it was a luxury item.
Adapted from
- Roslyn Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), 248-249
- Roslyn Walker, Add to, Take Away: Artistry and Innovation in African Textiles, Label text, 2014.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
2005: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from Andres Moraga, Berkeley, California
The main source for this provenance is the copy of the invoice dated March 23, 2005, in the Collections Records object file (2005.41).
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2005.41
source file
object_notes_2_b-0446.xml.nores