kanga
- Museum number
- Af2003,21.1
- Description
-
A rectangular machine-printed white cotton cloth, kanga, with a continuous patterned border of red and blue floral motifs, enclosing a central diamond-shaped design containing an open, western-style woman's handbag, also in blue and red and surrounded by further floral patterns in the same colours. Just above the centre of the lower border is an inscription in Kiswahili written in the Arabic script: UMEWACHA MLANGO WAZI, PAKA AMEKULA ANDAZI, UNA SHAURI GANI MPANGAJI - " You left the door open, so the cat ate the doughnut; what are you going to do about it, tenant?".
- Production date
- 1950s (?)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 153 centimetres
-
Width: 108 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
-
- Curator's comments
- Kangas are printed and purchased in pairs, then cut into single cloths before wear. Those showing western consumer goods and luxuries are typical of the 1950s; inscriptions in the Arabic script continued until the 1960s when the Roman script largely took over, though they are still occasionally printed in the Arabic.
- Location
- On display (G25/dc9)
- Condition
- good
- Acquisition date
- 2003
- Acquisition notes
- Af2003,21.1 to 35 is a documented collection of textiles and wooden printing blocks from Tanzania and Kenya, collected by Christopher Spring of the BM Dept. of Ethnography, in November 2003, sponsored by the Townley Group of the British Museum Friends.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af2003,21.1