{"type":"artobject","objectid":37002,"objectnumber":"1998-698","sortnumber":"1998  698","displaytitle":"Man's wrapper (kente)","department":"African and Oceanic Art","classification":"Textiles","datebegin":1900,"dateend":1999,"datecomputed":1950,"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","displaydate":"20th century","medium":"Cotton, rayon, and dye","dimensions":"320.3 cm x 204.6 cm (126 1/8 x 80 9/16 in.)","dimensionsproposed":"","creditline":"Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951","markings":null,"inscribed":null,"signed":null,"catalograisonne":null,"creditlinerepro":"","restrictions":null,"nowebuse":"False","secondaryobjectnumber":null,"campuscollections":"false","on_view":false,"accessionyear":"1998-01-01","newaccession":0,"titles":[{"title":"Man's wrapper (kente)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"makers":[{"id":15594,"displayname":"Akan","displaydate":null,"datebegin":1400,"dateend":0,"prefix":null,"suffix":"artist","role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Akan artist","displayorder":1}],"depicted":[],"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"John B. Elliott, New York, NY; Princeton University Art Museum, 1998","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThis technically complex textile is made from three-inch-wide strips of cloth woven on a horizontal frame treadle loom and sewn together. Usually known as kente cloths, they were woven to order by male weavers. The term \"kente\" appears to be a corruption of the Fanti word <I>kenten</I>, meaning basket, because the weaving resembles woven basketry. Individual motifs and designs have specific names and meanings, and certain patterns were reserved for the paramount chief. The gold color denotes warmth, long life, and prosperity. Older cloths were frequently woven from silk thread unraveled from imported cloth, but as the cost of silk increased, more recent cloths such as this example were woven from cotton and rayon. Among the Akan peoples, a kente cloth was an indication of prestige. As the power of the chiefs diminished, however, the wearing of kente grew more common, and kente is now worn by people who previously would not have had sufficient rank or wealth. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"Asante <EM>Kente</EM> cloths are composed by stitching together strips of woven fabric that alternate warp- and weft-faced weave, resulting in a checkered effect. Once a royal textile whose use was carefully restricted, kente is now the national cloth of Ghana and an international symbol of pan-Africanism. <EM>Kente</EM> is draped around the body without fasteners, requiring constant readjustment or “dancing” of the cloth, allowing its patterns to be seen in constant movement. Both whole cloths and smaller patterns are named for proverbs, objects, and people. Exhibiting the skill of the weaver, named weft-faced patterns are concentrated at the cloth’s ends. This large, 24-strip men’s wrapper includes <EM>nnwötoa</EM> (“snail’s bottom”) in red and yellow.","remarks":"\"Akan Art\" Collection Theme for website"}],"media":[{"id":24630,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1998-698","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"}],"hasimage":"true","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 149","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"\"Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83.","citation":"\"Selected checklist of objects in the collection of African art,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 58, no. 1/2 (1999): p. 77–83., p. 77","date":1999,"id":3043,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774794"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 150 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"<p>\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>61 (2002): p. 49-99.</p>","citation":"<p>\"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>61 (2002): p. 49-99.</p>, p. 59","date":2002,"id":3025,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774767"}],"exhibitions":[],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: Africa, Ghana","code":"Place made","continent":"Africa","subcontinent":"Western Africa","country":"Ghana","region":null,"state":null,"city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/2300660/republic-of-ghana.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"terms":[{"id":2122399,"term":"proverbs","aatid":300188783,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2188460,"term":"prestige","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2049610,"term":"textiles","aatid":300014063,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2095240,"term":"symbolism","aatid":300055865,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2041478,"term":"African","aatid":300015647,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2042070,"term":"Akan","aatid":300016000,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2185121,"term":"Akan Art","aatid":null,"termtype":"Collection Theme"},{"id":2185125,"term":"textiles","aatid":null,"termtype":"Collection Theme"},{"id":2044686,"term":"kente","aatid":300014085,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2159868,"term":"geometric patterns","aatid":300165213,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2199115,"term":"strip weaving","aatid":null,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2168318,"term":"dye","aatid":300013029,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2151271,"term":"weaving","aatid":300053642,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2044421,"term":"cotton (textile)","aatid":300014067,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2151290,"term":"dyeing","aatid":300053049,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2151468,"term":"sewing","aatid":300053658,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2043738,"term":"rayon","aatid":300014059,"termtype":"Materials"}],"classifications":[{"id":2044686,"classification":"kente"},{"id":2049610,"classification":"textiles"}],"cultures":[],"cultureterms":[{"id":2041478,"culture":"African"},{"id":2042070,"culture":"Akan"}],"periods":[],"periodterms":[],"attribute_groups":[{"id":2199315,"term":"African Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"320.30"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"204.60"}],"packages":[{"packageid":13770,"name":"web_Akan_Art_kente"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":13288,"name":"web_Akan_Art_all"}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/1998-698"],"displaymaker":"Akan artist","displayculture":null,"displayperiod":null,"caption":"Akan artist, Ghana, Western Africa, Man's wrapper (kente), 20th century. Cotton, rayon, and dye; 320.3 x 204.6 cm. Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951 (1998-698)","captionhtml":"Akan artist, Ghana, Western Africa, <i>Man's wrapper (kente)</i>, 20th century. Cotton, rayon, and dye; 320.3 x 204.6 cm. Bequest of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951 (1998-698)","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:52:13.418655","campusart":[{"campuscollections":"false","campusart":0,"neighborhood":null,"lat":null,"lon":null}],"extended_content":false}