Cleveland Museum of Art

Blanket or Cover (Kaasa)

Date

c. 1930s or earlier

Medium

Wool, dye

Culture

Africa; West Africa; Mali, Niger, or Burkina Faso; Fulani (Peul) style; unknown weavers

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Made on order, this blanket was hand woven in six strips that were sewn together at the selvages to make the full textile. Repeated named, symbolic geometric motifs in deep browns, blacks, and reds create an overall sense of rhythmic dynamism as naturally dyed colored floated weft (horizontal) threads dance in and out of the undyed cream-colored wool base textile. Some motifs have ties to Islam, as the Fulani were among the first West Africans to convert, or to nearby Tuareg cultures. Weavers don’t make sketches to plan the design for this textile but recall it from memory instead.

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