Robe
1870-1899 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is a detail from a robe on which the embroidered decoration is traditionally placed on a large pocket that covers the left breast. In this example the design was drawn in brown ink and then embroidered with green silk. The clearest motifs are those decorated with massed eyelets, each small hole oversewn with silk to prevent fraying and producing a flat, pockmarked surface. The horizontal band across the top of the pocket and the five 'daggers' hanging from it are worked in pattern darning, with the silk thread forming a flat pattern of small diamonds. This design is not immediately obvious but shows more clearly with the interplay of light when worn. At the corner of the pocket is a curved insertion that secures and reinforces the part most vulnerable to wear and tear.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Cotton, embroidered with silk |
| Brief description | Man's robe, cotton embroidered with silk, probably Hausa, Northern Nigeria, 1900-1949. |
| Physical description | This voluminous man's robe is made from narrow pieces of blue and white cotton cloth; each piece is only 2" (5 cms) wide at the most and some are 1" (2.5 cms) wide. They are joined vertically for the body of the robe and horizontally for the wide, loose sleeves. There is a large area of green embroidered geometric patterns over the left breast, and a single roundel on the right. There is another roundel at the back of the neck. The robe is unlined, but there is a deep bias-cut facing at the them. This is a pink cotton with a narrow green stripe. |
| Credit line | Given anonymously |
| Object history | Registered File number 1994/1650. |
| Production | Probably Hausa |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This is a detail from a robe on which the embroidered decoration is traditionally placed on a large pocket that covers the left breast. In this example the design was drawn in brown ink and then embroidered with green silk. The clearest motifs are those decorated with massed eyelets, each small hole oversewn with silk to prevent fraying and producing a flat, pockmarked surface. The horizontal band across the top of the pocket and the five 'daggers' hanging from it are worked in pattern darning, with the silk thread forming a flat pattern of small diamonds. This design is not immediately obvious but shows more clearly with the interplay of light when worn. At the corner of the pocket is a curved insertion that secures and reinforces the part most vulnerable to wear and tear. |
| Bibliographic reference | Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson. Dress in Detail from Around the World. London: V&A Publications, 2002. 224 p., ill. ISBN 09781851773787. p. 146 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.699-1994 |
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| Record created | February 5, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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