Room Divider

This cloth, an assemblage of two blankets possibly to constitute an interior hanging, was woven in the mid‑twentieth century in the Gimbala area of northern Mali known for the expertise of local weavers. Its aesthetic reflects the cosmopolitan engagement of weavers south of the Sahara with the formal vocabulary of North African textile traditions, and its patterns closely parallel those of Berber weavers. These patterns may have once had protective associations and today continue to allude to features of the region’s distinctive landscape and human activity.


The cloth is composed of 12 strips. The width of the strips varies between 8 inches to 8.75 inches. These have been stitched weft selvage to selvage to form the completed, almost square, cloth. Usually Kaasa blankets are composed of six strips, and the patterns here suggest that two groups of the woven strips were joined into a "double" blanket. The structure is weft-face plain weave with discontinuous weft patterning (brocade). The discontinuous weft patterning wefts: black and yellow ochre wool and white cotton appear to be thicker and more loosely spun-Z. The warp ends are bundled together and twisted forming a tight corded edge; the loose ends are worked into a tassel, tied between the strips at the outer weft selvages. A five-end plaited cord has been stitched to the selvage.