Tunic
BackDescription:
Narrow strip cotton tunic ("rigan yaki" in Hausa language) decorated with painted inscriptions and patterns. (prayers, Qur'anic inscriptions, 99 Beautiful Names of God, magic squares and amuletic motifs). Leather-covered amulets sewn to inside of upper part of tunic.
Object type: | tunic |
Museum number: | Af1940,23.1 |
Date: | 1900-1930s |
Findspot: | Found/Acquired: Nigeria (Northern Nigeria ?) |
Materials: | cotton, leather |
Technique: | painted, woven |
Dimensions: | Length: 88.00 cm Width: 91.00 cm |
Location: | 48 |
Exhibition history: | Exhibited: 2011-2012, 6 Oct-19 Feb, London, The British Museum, 'Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman', exhibition 2008-2009 Sep-Apr, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design without end |
Acquisition names: | From: Capt Alfred Walter Francis Fuller |
Acquisition date: | 1940 |
Curator's comments:
(LaGamma and C. Giuntini, 2008) ‘Every inch of this simple cotton tunic was inscribed and invested with prayers by an itinerant Hausa artist who sought to transform it into a mantle of invulnerability. The extraordinary measures taken suggest that the garment was made for an important warrior to wear into battle. The Islamic belief in the power of the Koran’s written word is manifested here in a creation configured so its Koranic texts encase the body, affording a line of mystical defence superior to armour’ (LaGamma and C. Giuntini, 2008. The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York).; Register 1940: 'Jibbeh' W. Sudan (?) Register 1940 later addition: [N.Nigeria? (W.B.F.)]
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