Adinkra

early 20th century

Akan, African

Not On View

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

Adinkra cloths boast a complex visual vocabulary of geometric and figurative motifs, each of which encapsulates a widely understood, specific meaning. The Asante people of what is modern-day Ghana made adinkra primarily as funeral cloths. Indeed, the name adinkra means “to send a message,” suggesting that the living created them to communicate via the newly dead to long-departed souls in the world beyond.

The owner of the cloth often specified their message preferences, which the manufacturer would stamp onto fabric using patterns carved from a gourd and dipped in vegetable dye. This cloth’s sixteen designs include gye nyame (“except god”) and dwennimen (“ram’s horns”), which symbolize humility, strength, and wisdom.
The oldest adinkra in existence was collected by John Bowdich in 1817 and now resides in the British Museum, London. A second, commissioned by the Danish governor of Ghana, entered the Danish national collection around 1850. With its uniquely carved symbols, this cloth likely dates before 1900.

Title Adinkra

Artwork Date early 20th century

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. African

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Akan

Medium Cotton fabric, vegetable dye, and colored threads

Dimensions Overall: 132 × 89 inches (3 m 35.3 cm × 226.1 cm)

Classification Textiles

Department African Art

Credit Museum Purchase with funds from Friends of African and African American Art

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2005.30

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance

Oumar Doucoure;
2005-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Quarcoopome, Nii. “Akan Ceremonial Cloths, Costumes, and Flags.” Bulletin of the DIA 91, no. 1/4 (2017): p. 62 (fig. 3.13).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Akan, African, Adinkra, early 20th century, cotton fabric, vegetable dye, and colored threads. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase with funds from Friends of African and African American Art, 2005.30.