Currently not on view
Man's wrapper (kente),
20th century
More Context
This technically complex textile is made from three-inch-wide strips of cloth woven on a horizontal frame treadle loom and sewn together. Usually known as kente cloths, they were woven to order by male weavers. The term "kente" appears to be a corruption of the Fanti word <em>kenten</em>, meaning basket, because the weaving resembles woven basketry. Individual motifs and designs have specific names and meanings, and certain patterns were reserved for the paramount chief. The gold color denotes warmth, long life, and prosperity. Older cloths were frequently woven from silk thread unraveled from imported cloth, but as the cost of silk increased, more recent cloths such as this example were woven from cotton and rayon. Among the Akan peoples, a kente cloth was an indication of prestige. As the power of the chiefs diminished, however, the wearing of kente grew more common, and kente is now worn by people who previously would not have had sufficient rank or wealth.
Information
20th century
Africa, Ghana
- "Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83., p. 79
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"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): p. 49-99.
, p. 73 - Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 265 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 317
