Baule Textile

The textile is constructed from nine narrow loom-woven cotton strip units joined through continuous longitudinal seams across a dark woven ground. Repeated linear bands establish the primary structural rhythm, interrupted by narrow patterned registers and paired bracket-form woven motifs distributed within contained rectangular fields. Alternating woven intervals establish transitions between narrow patterned registers and broader monochrome woven fields, while continuity is preserved across the textile surface. One strip unit is woven in solid orange, white, and green registers, forming a continuous vertical accent panel distinct from the surrounding patterned strips; its edges are joined with braided overcast threads, its field carries repeated raised looped and tufted yarn elements, and it terminates at the lower edge in a continuous woven fringe formed from the strip ends.

Surface is compact and stable throughout the textile. Colour retention remains coherent across the ground field and adjacent registers. Minor seam separation, tension irregularities, and edge fraying are concentrated along exposed joins, borders, and fold transitions, while the woven structure remains compact and intact.

Textiles of this type functioned within systems of ceremonial display and social identification, where strip construction permitted expansion into large-format wearable and presentation cloths.

From the Felice Maffei Collection, acquired in Ivory Coast, 1971.

Title

Baule Textile

Culture

Baule

Origin

Ivory Coast

Date

20th century

Dimensions

H 313 cm (123.2 in) · W 180 cm (70.9 in)

Medium

Cotton

Provenance

From the Felice Maffei Collection, acquired in Ivory Coast, 1971.

Condition

Stable surface; colour retained; woven structure intact.