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Lomasa

Late 18th–early 19th century

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.

Title: Lomasa

Date: Late 18th–early 19th century

Geography: Mali, Segu region

Medium: Cotton, dye

Dimensions: W. 96 7/16 × D. 13/16 × L. 51 15/16 in. (245 × 2 × 132 cm)

Classification: Textiles-Costumes

Credit Line: Musée du Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac, Paris (71.1930.54.189 D)

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.