| Fine rayon Asante kente chief’s robe from a royal collection. This kente is one of a small group of exceptional cloths that we collected recently from the court of one of the most senior Asante kings. Asante kings were by long tradition expected to wear new and spectacular cloths at important ceremonial occasions throughout the year, and it was informed and critical patronage by these kings and senior chiefs that stimulated the continual refinement and elaboration of kente cloth design throughout the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century. In the later part of the C20th this tradition was in decline but this group of cloths show the work of a master kente weaver working at the limit of his skill to produce exceptional and visually dynamic cloths. On a background of the classic “Oyokoman” warp stripe design, which refers to the matrilineage of the paramount Asante king, the Asantehene, the entire cloth is covered with thickly woven weft faced motifs in a good variety of design. Condition is excellent, age circa 1960s.
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