photo: Jaron James
On view
African Art
Riga (robe),
late 19th–early 20th century
Artist unrecorded
Nupe
2020-42
After its founding in 1804, the Sokoto Caliphate adopted the riga as its official ceremonial dress. Modeled after a gown of the same name worn by Hausa communities, conquered during the caliphate’s expansion, the cotton robe represents the unity and authority of the powerful Islamic caliphate. Artisans and workers from all levels of society supported the production of these robes. Enslaved laborers grew and processed the raw cotton. Free and enslaved men, some captured from Yorùbá kingdoms to the south, wove the cotton thread into strips on a double heddle loom. Tailors, often living in cities, sewed the cotton strips into garments that were embroidered by itinerant Muslim scholars. The white of this riga and its fine embroidery is associated with sanctity and purity in Islam. Color appears only on the interior, in the magenta of the imported alharini silk lining the bottom edge.
Information
Title
Riga (robe)
Dates
late 19th–early 20th century
Maker
Medium
Cotton, silk, and dye
Dimensions
271.8 × 132.1 cm (107 × 52 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund and anonymous gift
Object Number
2020-42
Place Made
Africa, Nigeria
Materials
Techniques
Subject
Private collection, London, UK, purchased at a Paris flea market, by 2010; [purchased by Adire African Textiles, London, UK, ca. 2010]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, January 2020.
