Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Lomasa

Not on view

Nineteenth-century Segu was identified across the Sahel with the lomasa, a term that translates simply as “clothing dyed a dark color.” This genre of untailored male luxury garment is defined by a lavish use of indigo-dyed cotton accentuated with a flourish of dazzling embroidery. Dyed by women, the stitched detail was applied by male specialists using imported colored silk threads. While the original significance of the abstract curvilinear designs is unknown, the spiral that is always on the garment’s right side is thought to be related to the serpent in ancient Ghana’s Wagadu epic.

Lomasa, Cotton, dye

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

© Musée du Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY