Description
White Dioula type patterning on a dark blue hand spun indigo dyed cotton ground was typical of this very rare and obscure genre of Ivoirian chiefs cloths. Rows of simple white weft float motifs, along with a fringe of unwoven warps and small tassels, mark each end of the cloth, with a central pattern built up from four extended float motifs. While we can say that this cloth reflects Dioula origins, Dioula men, as Muslims, typically wore tailored robes rather than wrapped cloths. Weavers produced cloths for both local patrons from other ethnic groups in the communities where they lived and in some case were themselves long distance cloth traders. In the colonial period their routes were able to extend into the southern forest belt. The limited evidence we have suggests this style was woven for chiefs among the Gouro and Baule people, perhaps by Gouro weavers as well as Dioula. Dates from the first half of C20th and is in excellent complete condition.
Measurement: 7’11 x 4’9″, 240 cm x 144.
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