cloth
- Museum number
- Af1855,1220.135
- Description
-
Cloth; rectangle of white cotton woven with blue geometric patterns; fringe along one short side.
- Production date
- 1820-55 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 54 centimetres
-
Width: 33 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Slip reads: "Small white cotton mat, fringed, with raised pattern in blue. 'Specimen of embroidered weaving sold at a high price'. Angola."
If this correctly described as from Angola, the following passage from J J Monteiro, ‘Angola and the river Congo’, London 1875, II p.105 may relate: ‘Cotton is grown sparingly everywhere [in Angola]. It is picked from the seeds and beaten on the ground with a switch to open it out, and then spun by hand. This was the constant employment of the natives, particularly of the women and girls, but quite lately this industry has greatly fallen off, owing to the greater importation of Manchester goods. The cotton thread was woven by the natives into good strong thick cloths, but these are now not easy to obtain for the same reason.’
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1855
- Acquisition notes
- Af1855,1220.78 to 155 is the group of African material within the large collection of 293 objects which was "Presented by the Lords of the Admiralty through Sir John Liddell, CB (the Museum of Haslar Hospital)" to the BM in 1855. See the entry for Haslar Hospital. When the name of the donor to Haslar is known, it has been recorded on the database. The Hospital was opened in 1762; the museum, containing gifts from members of the Royal Navy, was added in 1827.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1855,1220.135
