Wrapper

This rectangular wrapper has been hand-woven on the traditional Igbo Akwete woman’s vertical loom with machine spun cotton yarns and Lurex. As is usual on Akwete cloths, the design motifs in this example are created by a supplementary weft structure on a warp-face plain-weave ground. It is woven on orchid colored ground interspersed with gold thread. At either end, two superimposed bands of abstract weft designs - one in green and the other in yellow -- extend the width. These intersect with a band that extends along the perimeter of either side that is composed of the same design arranged in alternating rectangular units of green and yellow. At the center a green block on either of the sides is extended so that a single band of green weft design crosses the panel's width. This green band is accented by yellow bands directly above and below. In the empty fields that lie between this median line and the border, a series of four floating rectangles of green and yellow replicate the weft pattern used throughout.

This work represents a classic textile genre designed, woven, and worn by Igbo women in one of Nigeria's premier centers for textile weaving. Textiles are one of the preeminent forms of visual expression in sub-Saharan Africa, and Akwete weavers have had an important impact on the region at large. Their frequently elaborate and complex supplementary weft-float patterns are of particular interest for their variety, incorporating abstract geometric and figurative motifs.