Country Cloth

This is a contemporary piece of country cloth, that entered the British Museum in 2002. Country cloth is a thick, heavy, cloth, traditionally made from locally grown cotton that is spun into thread, dyed, and woven into strips on a tripod loom. The strips are then sewn together edge to edge to form the finished cloth. Such cloth was, in the past, regarded as a sign or wealth and Prestige. This example, however, is likely to have used imported cotton, cotton dyes, as well as synthetic yarns. It is also likely to have been machine woven. It is composed of eight strips of cotton and synthetic fibres, in cream, green, turquoise, red, brown, pink, light and dark blue, orange, and black, cotton or synthetic fibre. The central panel consists of two blocks of orange at either end, and a central cream block with a diamond and polygon based pattern in blue dyed cotton.

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Further Information

  • Type: Textiles, cloth
  • Object: Country Cloth
  • Materials: Textile
  • Culture Group: Other
  • Dimensions: 2400mm [L] x 1770mm [W]
  • Production Date: Pre 2002
  • Associated Places: Unknown
  • Associated People: Edna Jones ; Christopher J. Spring
  • Museum: British Museum
  • Accession Number: BM:Af.2002.2.8

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