- Museum number
- Af1948,25.9
- Description
-
Man’s gown (tobe, boubou, riga saki). The body is formed from 125 narrow uniform strips, hand-woven and hand-sewn together along the selvedges. The strips are uniform and use indigo-dyed cotton in both warp and weft, with lines of white cotton inserted frequently and regularly in both warp and weft to create a checked appearance of a blue/grey colour (known as ‘saki’ by the Hausa’ and ‘etu’ by the Yoruba). The body of the cloth is not shaped, while the sleeves are wider at the top than the bottom and as a result fan out. At the front is sewn a large pocket that occupies a quarter of the front of the gown. The pocket, shoulder and front are hand-embroidered in white European cotton in a very large rectangle that extends beyond the pocket. The embroidery is in chain and buttonhole eyelet stitch, and in the ‘eight knives’ (aska takwas) pattern; there is a large spiral at the front and another on the back. The knives themselves are embroidered on top of extra pieces of cloth that have been cut to shape. The tunic is unlined and unhemmed except around the neck and sleeves.
- Production date
- 1887-1891 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 139 centimetres
-
Width: 271 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This ‘riga saki’ tobe is described on pp.407-8 of Freeman’s book, 'Travels and life in Ashanti and Jaman' (1898) though without stating that he owned the garment or giving any clue as to where he acquired it, though it was certainly during his years in West Africa, 1887-91. This must be one of the earliest such careful descriptions of the Hausa ‘riga’, of which this is a very fine specimen.
‘The characteristic garment of the Mohammedan men is what is called by the Europeans a ‘tobe’ and by the Hausas a ‘riga’. This is a wide-sleeved gown of ample proportions and varying length, reaching in some cases barely to the knees and in others nearly to the ankles. Among the poorer classes it often forms the only garment, but generally it is supplemented by loose drawers or ‘wondo’. Complete as this garment looks when it is being worn, it is not so great an advance on the simple country cloth or ‘ntama’ as it at first appears, for in its simplest form it is nothing more than a square of cloth with a hole in the centre and the corners sewn together. Nevertheless, it is an extremely handsome garment even when quite simple in material and design, and the long vertical folds that drop from the shoulder impart to the wearer, especially if he be a tall man of good bearing, a dignified and even commanding aspect. It is seldom, however, that the tobe is left quite without ornament: usually it is decorated with a kind of embroidery the colour of which depends upon that of the cloth on which it is worked, and its elaborateness upon the value of the material. The most highly prized material is a cotton cloth of a dark bluish grey speckled with white, the speckles running in narrow lines, which is known among the Arabs as ‘filfil’ or pepper, and by the Hausas as ‘riga saki’. Tobes made of this cloth are generally very handsomely embroidered in white, the greatest amount of ornamentation being bestowed upon the immense pocket that occupies the whole of the left breast and often extends nearly to the bottom of the gown. When the material of the tobe is white, the embroidery is generally of a dark buff or light brown colour ….The scheme of colour is as a rule extremely severe and restrained … the finest fabrics of the northern cities present a plain ground of creamy white or some quiet neutral shade, upon which a few pots of brilliant colour are introduced with great judgement and severity of taste, and with a very fine effect.’
For another similar ‘riga saki’, which has a larger area of embroidery and is perhaps ten or twenty years later, see Af1934,0307.215. The strips are certainly Nupe work. The embroidery is as likely to be Nupe as Hausa. See the article by Judith Perani, ‘The cloth connection: patrons and producers of Hausa and Nupe prestige strip-weave’, in ‘History, design and craft in West African strip-woven cloth’, Smithsonian Institute Washington, 1982, pp.95-112.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1948
- Acquisition notes
- Af1948,25.1 to 41 is the bequest of Mrs Austin Freeman, and consists of the main part of the collection of Richard Austin Freeman (qv) which he collected during his years as a doctor in Ghana 1887-91. (For the rest of the collection see her earlier gift Af1945,11.1 to 41). All the objects must date from these years as he never returned to Africa. Some are described in his book of 1898.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1948,25.9