**Originally Listed At $300**

Africa, Mali, ca. 2000. A very large, hand-woven and painted mud cloth or Bogolan depicting a village scene featuring: a woman sitting upon a mat and spinning yarn before three quaint homes, a weaver under a shade structure to the left, a gentleman on horseback in the foreground, and a farmer behind a tree to the right. The scene also includes an adorable mother hen and her three chicks to the left of the horse, and additional natural elements such as tufts of grass, hillsides and another tree in the distance. All is surrounded by a decorative border (dotted at top and bottom; triangular motifs left and right) and delineated in a rich earthtone palette of nutmeg and almond browns as well as black and white. A wonderful textile that depicts the traditional process of spinning and weaving, the resulting cloth being used for clothing worn by the figures in the painting as well as objects like the shade structure over the weaver's shack. Size: 102" W x 72" H (259.1 cm x 182.9 cm)

Mud cloth - called 'bogolan' - is one of Africa's most unique types of textiles. To create a bogolan, narrow strips of handwoven cotton cloth are skillfully stitched together into a larger cloth. Next, the cloth is hand-painted with patterns and symbols using natural dyes, including dyes made from river mud aged up to one year.

Provenance: private Poos collection, Overland Park, Kansas, USA; purchased directly from the artist in 2010 - One of the largest privately held quilt and textile collections in the world, the Poos Collection has evolved over 50 years and through extensive travels to allow for original or point of source acquisition. The collection includes international textiles and garments with an emphasis on West African textiles such as adire, aso oke, kente, and ewe woven prestige cloths as well as Mali bogolan like this example.

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

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#145906

Cloth is comprised of 17 woven cloth strips neatly sewn together. One small 1.5" section of seam has separated, and minor staining to area around tree trunk and left of weaver, otherwise excellent.