GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Kente is the best known and most popular of the Asante textiles. Oral traditions credit a spider’s web-making with having inspired two hunters to create the first kente. Osei Tutu I, the first king of the Asante, reserved the cloth for royals. Over time, with greater varieties of colors and materials, kente became accessible to more of the population.
This cloth, originally made for a male royal, is in superb condition despite its advanced age. Its twenty-five strips feature a variety of weft-faced patterns (extending the width of each strip). Its name refers to two rival clans in the royal matrilineage, the Oyoko and the Dako, who fought a civil war in the early 18th century.
Adapted from
- Roslyn Walker, The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana, Label text, 2018.
NOTES
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Akan (culture): AAT: 300016000
Asante: AAT: 300016004
Geography
Ghana (nation): TGN: 1000166
Bonwire (inhabited place): TGN: 7668940
Process/materials
weaving: AAT: 300053642
silk (textile): AAT: 300243428
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
prestige: AAT: 300343604
nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942
kente: AAT: 300014085
patterns (design elements): AAT: 300010108
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1960-2009: Donald Simmons, United Kingdom
2009-2016: Kapil Jariwala, London
2016-2017: Andrés Moraga, Berkeley
From 2017: Dallas Museum of Art, African Collection Fund purchase from above
The main source for this provenance is information already entered in TMS.
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WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
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General Description
Kente is the best known and most popular of the Asante textiles. Oral traditions credit a spider’s web-making with having inspired two hunters to create the first kente. Osei Tutu I, the first king of the Asante, reserved the cloth for royals. Over time, with greater varieties of colors and materials, kente became accessible to more of the population.
This cloth, originally made for a male royal, is in superb condition despite its advanced age. Its twenty-five strips feature a variety of weft-faced patterns (extending the width of each strip). Its name refers to two rival clans in the royal matrilineage, the Oyoko and the Dako, who fought a civil war in the early 18th century.
Adapted from
- Roslyn Walker, The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana, Label text, 2018.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Akan (culture): AAT: 300016000
Asante: AAT: 300016004
Geography
Ghana (nation): TGN: 1000166
Bonwire (inhabited place): TGN: 7668940
Process/materials
weaving: AAT: 300053642
silk (textile): AAT: 300243428
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
prestige: AAT: 300343604
nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942
kente: AAT: 300014085
patterns (design elements): AAT: 300010108
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1960-2009: Donald Simmons, United Kingdom
2009-2016: Kapil Jariwala, London
2016-2017: Andrés Moraga, Berkeley
From 2017: Dallas Museum of Art, African Collection Fund purchase from above
The main source for this provenance is information already entered in TMS.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2017.20.1
source file
object_notes_2_d-0245.xml.nores