Saddle Blanket
- Culture
- Mossi artist
- Date
- early 20th century
- made in
- Burkina Faso, Africa
- Classification
- Coverings & hangings, textiles
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 44 1/8 × 51 3/16 in. (112 × 130 cm)
- Credit Line
- Friends Endowment Fund
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 20:2020
NOTES
The wide border and descending flange of this saddle blanket feature dramatic interlace and geometric leather designs. These are appliquéd onto portions of European-produced cotton cloth. The blanket’s center is made of strip-woven, indigo-dyed cotton produced by West African weavers.
Converging local and imported materials, techniques, and designs, this textile reflects the significance of its geographical origins—the Sahel—as a locus of longstanding trade and contact between sub-Saharan Africa, northern Africa, and beyond. The Sahel is the transitional region between Africa’s Sahara Desert to the north and the sub-Saharan regions to the south. The blanket attests to the extent of horse culture in West Africa and the great mobility of textiles via long-distance trade. Hausa people from the north introduced horses to Yorubaland by the late 18th to early 19th centuries.
Provenance
Private collection, Metz region, France [1]
- 2012
Commissaires-priseurs de Metz, Metz, France [2]
2012/10/27 – 2020
Marcuson & Hall (Alan Marcuson and Diane Hall), Brussels, Belgium, purchased at Commissaires-priseurs de Metz, Metz, October 27, 2012, sale no. 201 [3]
2020 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Marcuson & Hall [4]
Notes:
[1] In an email dated June 24, 2020 to Amy Clark, Laurent Thomas of Commissaires-priseurs de Metz stated the work came from a private collection in the Metz, France region [SLAM document files].
[2] See note [1].
[3] In an email dated August 7, 2019 to Nichole Bridges, Diane Hall stated the work was purchased from the auction house Commissaires-priseurs de Metz on October 27, 2012 [SLAM document files].
[4] An invoice dated March 3, 2020 documents the purchase of this object, listed as "leather appliqué saddle blanket" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 14, 2020.
- 2012
Commissaires-priseurs de Metz, Metz, France [2]
2012/10/27 – 2020
Marcuson & Hall (Alan Marcuson and Diane Hall), Brussels, Belgium, purchased at Commissaires-priseurs de Metz, Metz, October 27, 2012, sale no. 201 [3]
2020 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Marcuson & Hall [4]
Notes:
[1] In an email dated June 24, 2020 to Amy Clark, Laurent Thomas of Commissaires-priseurs de Metz stated the work came from a private collection in the Metz, France region [SLAM document files].
[2] See note [1].
[3] In an email dated August 7, 2019 to Nichole Bridges, Diane Hall stated the work was purchased from the auction house Commissaires-priseurs de Metz on October 27, 2012 [SLAM document files].
[4] An invoice dated March 3, 2020 documents the purchase of this object, listed as "leather appliqué saddle blanket" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 14, 2020.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.