Descrição

Tecido artesanal Ashoke. Do Ioruba aso (tecido) oke (montanha, o topo de alguma coisa), significa um tecido de alta qualidade. Seda selvagem. - comp. 1,12 m x larg. 1,87 m

Grupo Cultural Ioruba, Nigéria.

Woven in narrow strips, these textiles have sections of openwork, with the holes linked by decorative, carry-over threads.
Natural beige wild silk, called sanyan by the Yoruba, was obtained from the nests of several species of moth, most commonly Anaphe infracta, that were gathered in the bush by nomadic Fulani cattle herders. After boiling in an alkaline ash solution the fibres could be unravelled and spun by hand to create an expensive and prestigious fibre that was woven by the Yoruba into wrapper cloths or tailored and embroidered into robes for high ranking individuals. It continued to be woven in decreasing quantities into the mid decades of the twentieth century, by which time far larger quantities of a beige cotton substitute cloth, also called sanyan were being woven. Whilst these cotton cloths are still quite easily sourced (and some of our large stock may be seen here the older real silk cloths are increasingly hard to obtain. Although wild silk is non lustrous they can usually be distinguished in appearance and texture from the cotton versions.