Garment
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Ghana
- Date: 1880-1920 (circa)
- Object type: garment
- Materials: silk
- Museum number: Af2004,04.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a man's silk garment from Ghana, made by the Asante people around the turn of the twentieth century. It is a type of kente cloth known as "adwinasa" or "fullness of ornament," famed for its intricate weaving. You'll notice the fabric is divided into twenty-four narrow joined strips, each featuring a pattern of broad gold and green stripes with alternating reds, whites, and blacks. The design is crafted using a supplementary weft technique atop a plain weave silk background.
Traditionally, such textiles were woven to order for members of the Asante court or elite. This example is exceptional: the weaver has embedded a wide variety of subtle yet striking weft patterns across the entire surface. These small, colorful motifs are scattered unevenly, giving the cloth a lively and detailed texture.
Made around 1880–1920, it now resides here after once belonging to a private London collection. It was donated more recently and remains an admired masterpiece of Asante craftsmanship.
See it in person
Garment is on display in Room 25 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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