Vintage Dogon,Mali Wedding Skirt,Indigo Dyed,Embroidered Figurative Images/42x58

Description

Vintage, rare and unique, one-of-a kind wedding skirt/wrapper made by the Dogon in Mali. Piece has 9  blue, medium weight, indigo dyed, hand woven cotton strips sewn together, with a subtle variation to the blue showing lines and squares due to the different color dyed threads used in the weaving, as well fading of the color due to wear, age and washing.
Older, favorite, worn family textiles are said to be selected to be hand embroidered with colorful designs, which are then given to the bride and sometimes for the groom and other family members. Many of these wedding pieces I have been lucky to buy over time have different symbols on them - some figurative, some
architectural, some just abstract patterns and images, and sometimes even the name/names of the bride and groom. I don’t get these often so I suggest buying these unique works when you see one you like. This one is especially wonderful with its images that include an airplane, snake, tree, hand, and something I can only guess might be a Dogon ladder, along with other abstract symbols, and an embroidered edge and matching side embroidered lines.
42” x 58”; Indigo itself and the embroidery are both in excellent condition: almost always a few loose embroidery threads on these works that can easily be pulled through but very few on this piece; some fading in spots from wear; one repaired hole in the center of the tree but certainly nothing to think about compared to the wonderful images/story on the work!
All the works I will be listing are
hard to find, older indigo textiles in very good conditon, with the old dyed striped patterns, some in the old stitch and resist patterns, a few, rare embroidered works as well. All were used and are soft from wear and washing, and will not bleed.
I was lucky to have “first choice” of several containers  of indigos as they arrived directly from Africa, and have MANY I will be listing. I picked ones that were in the best condition, and/or the most unique, but there are almost always a few flaws, which I will note in my listings and photographs.
(8143)
_gsrx_vers_837 (GS 7.0.15 (837))