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CODE#: NW357 PRICE: US$625 Measurement: 81ins x 47ins, 206 cm x 120 cm A senior women's title cloth from Somorika, a small village set high among steep rocky hills south of Okene. Its remote and very isolated location seems likely to be the reason for the survival of weaving in a kind of bast fibre obtained by soaking and then pounding the wood of a tree. Most probably this type of thread was used over a much wider area until the early decades of the C20th. In Somorika the natural white fibres are combined with narrow warp stripes of indigo dyed cotton to create a cloth of great simplicity and beauty, worn on ceremonial occasions by female dignitaries (see picture on gallery page.) Only a very few of these cloths have been collected. This piece has a soft worn linen texture. In excellent condition. It probably dates to circa 1960s. (c) Duncan Clarke, Version 5/16/2006 |
