Mae Festa 50 Years of Collecting Textiles - Peter Pap Oriental Rugs

AFRICA – Sub-Sahara
Woman’s Ceremonial Hip Wrap
Mid-late 20 th Century
Woodabe People, Niger
Balanced strip weave. Homespun indigo cotton
ground (save for black/white center strip),
polychrome (red, white, green, yellow, orange)
embroidery and strips of scalloped white
cotton appliqué.
138 x 73 cm 54½ x 29 in
Young Woodabe women adopt a similar approach
to their hip wraps as to the tunics they fashion for
their brothers, with exception that they take an
eminently practical attitude to the embroidery work:
only where it will be on display. The ground cloth is
not as fine when compared to the diaphanous material
of the men’s tunics, in this case created from nine strips
8.3 cm (3¼ in) wide. Thirty-nine little square or
rectangular panels displaying eleven different motifs.
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