Yoruba Asoke Strip-Woven Cloth

Dark wine ground, pale lines running sideways, and a smudge of age in the middle.

This asoke strip-woven cloth is Yoruba, from Nigeria, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is cotton. Yoruba weavers generally work on narrow looms, producing long, thin strips of cloth that are then sewn edge to edge into a wider textile. Horizontal pairs of cream and gold stripes cross a deep aubergine cloth at regular intervals. Small white dashes dot some lines, and a darker, slightly rubbed area shows near the center-left. It is 79 inches wide and 59.5 long.

Orderly stripes and a faint trace of use.