Yoruba Asoke Strip-Woven Cloth

Six rows of wine-red patterns march across a pale, finely ribbed ground.

This Asoke strip-woven cloth in embroidered cotton is Yoruba, from Nigeria, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. The Yoruba of Nigeria and neighboring countries have a long tradition of weaving narrow strips of cloth on a loom and sewing them edge to edge into larger wrappers. A rectangular panel of pale, closely striped weave carries horizontal bands of maroon geometric motifs, with crosses and stepped blocks repeating along each line. The edges are slightly uneven, and the ground shows a soft, aged tone. It is 84 inches wide and 50 long.

Repetition has rarely looked this calm and this deliberate.