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An African Quilt |
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A lot of attention has been paid to the questions raised by the possible influences of African aesthetic sensibilties on African-American quiltmaking. Affinities have been noted between quilt tops and the layout of African strip woven cloths from such people as the Ewe. (See "Signs and Symbols: African Images in African-American Quilts" by Dr Maude Southwell Wahlman for a full account.) However despite this growing literature there are very few examples of actual quilting from Africa itself. Appliqués such as Fante Asafo flags, Fon banners, and Ibibio funeral hangings are quite well known but there are very few documented instances of real quilting. These include some Yoruba Egungun masquerade costumes, quilted horse armour from Niger, some extremely rare pieced gowns once worn by chiefs in Western Liberia, and almost as scarce, some instances of quilted saddle cloths like the example shown here. This, sadly heavily damaged example, is a saddle cloth from Northern Nigeria, of either Hausa or northern Yoruba origin. Probably late C19th it was collected from a family of Yoruba descent in Ghana. Materials used include red velvet and various colours of felt. Among the features of the design we could note possible references to strip cloth layout and slight breaks in symmetry. Size is 42ins x 29ins, 107cm x 74cm. Author's collection.
Text and image copyright Duncan Clarke 2003. Do not use without permission. |
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