Cloth (adinkra)

Adinkra cloth is a printed textile produced by the Asante people of Ghana. Using a glutinous black pigment made from tree bark, they print designs onto the surface of a fabric with a stamp carved from a calabash gourd. The patterns are repeated in a grid pattern of blocks, and the motifs have symbolic meanings that convey moral principles. Black, brown, red, or purple printed cloths are worn as wrappers during periods of mourning, while white cloths are worn on festive occasions. The earliest adinkra, which date to the early 19th century, were made from strips of hand-woven cotton cloth pieced together. More recent adinkra use factory-produced cloth. Modern pieces often have narrow, parallel bands of red, black, yellow, and green embroidery, as seen in this example.