Hammock
- Gallery: Room 25
- Made in: Sierra Leone
- Date: 1880-1913 (between)
- Object type: hammock, textile
- Materials: cotton
- Museum number: Af1934,0307.183
- 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 finely woven Mende hammock from Sierra Leone, made between 1880 and 1913. You’ll notice it's made from cotton and has three wide, hand-spun strips sewn together. The central part of the hammock is decorated with colorful weft-faced blocks in red and shades of indigo, forming a repeating pattern.
Look closely, and you can see that within these blocks, there are smaller supplementary weft patterns woven in a tapestry style using indigo and white cotton. The ends of the hammock are plain white, and along each side are six decorative flaps with embroidered designs and pompons at the ends. These flaps once hung down when the hammock was used, likely to carry a chief or a dignitary.
This piece is an example of "kpoikpoi," a richly decorated cloth traditionally associated with status and prestige. These hammocks were once practical transport but became more ceremonial over time.
See it in person
Hammock 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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