Image Coming Soon

Akunitan "Cloth of the Great" Men's wrapper

mid-20th century

Only a man of high position would dare to wear a cloth so full of messages of
greatness. Locked in a grid, a menagerie of creatures and symbols wait to share their wisdom. They speak in proverbs that would surround the leader when he appeared at public functions. A few translations of the sayings from the Twi language include:

The moon moves slowly, but it crosses the town.
Peacocks will not spare a cockroach that falls in their midst.
Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine.
Pick it up if it falls behind. [A bird called Sankofa that twists its head backwards.]
One needs unity when there is the same destiny. [Based on a double-headed crocodile.]

Wool cloth, rayon thread

132 x 81 in. (335.3 x 205.7cm)

African Art Purchase Fund, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2005.28

Not currently on view

Resources

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela, Repeat, Repeat, A Community of Collectors, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2008, p. 134, illus. 112.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM