- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Adire cloth patterned with figures, lettering, floral motifs, birds and dots using a starch resist method.
- Long description
- Adire cloth consisting of four pieces of European factory-produced shirting cotton which have been machine sewn together using a running stitch in green and white threads. There is a machine stitched hem of 1-2cm down each side. The textile is an example of adire cloth which has been pattered using a resist dye technique. The word adire literally means "that which is tied and dyed," but it is commonly used to refer to all indigo-dyed cloth in Nigeria. The pattern shows two medallions containing an Oba with a second human figure both crowned and enthroned, lettering, floral motifs, birds and dots. Adire eleko is the name for the resist dye technique used to create the pattern which involves the application of starch paste to the surface of cotton cloth. The paste is made from cassava flour, known as lafun in Yoruba, which is boiled with alu to form a thick starch. The paste was applied through a stencil using a comb and has been repeated across the cloth. After the dyeing process, the starched areas remain white, and the rest of the cloth turns a deep indigo blue. The starch is applied to only one side, leaving the underside plain blue. This cloth was collected alongside cloth 1952.10.B1. Both pieces are half cloths which would traditionally be sewn together to form an iro (wrapped skirt).
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Yoruba
- Person
- Field collector Unknown Collector
- PRM source Artists International Association
- PRM source Diane Uhlman
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1952
- Date collected
- By 1952
- Acquisition information
- Purchased: 1952
- Materials and processes
- Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Material Pigment, Process Resist Dyed, Process Stitched, Process Woven, Process Stencilled, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Process Indigo Dyed
- Dimensions
- Length: max 1640 mm, Width: max 1160 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1952.10.2B
- Associated publications
- Adire coth in Nigeria 1971 - 2016, Editor: Doig Simmonds; Editor: Pat Oyelola; Editor: Segun Oke; Additional author: Dele Layiwola; Additional author: Bisi Akpata; Additional author: Nancy Stanfield; Additional author: Segun Oke; Additional author: Jane Barbour; Additional author: George Jackson; Additional author: Nike Okundaye; Additional author: Pat Oyelola; Additional author: Margaret Areo; Additional author: John Picton; Additional author: Doig Simmonds; UK on behalf of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2016
Search terms: Textile, Clothing Textile, Clothing