Amazigh
Djerba or Mahdia, Tunisia
Woman’s shawl
INV-2739
Amazigh
Djerba or Mahdia, Tunisia20th century
Woman’s shawl
Amazigh Djerba or Mahdia, Tunisia →Northern Africa and the Sahelcostume - weavingcostume
Date
20th century
Medium
Cotton, plain weave with secondary spliced warp; cotton, silk, and metal-strip-wrapped silk threads in supplementary brocading wefts; cotton float weave; extended and plied warp fringe
Dimensions
365 × 143.5 cm (143 3/4 × 56 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Dr. and Mrs. Magnus P. Urnes Memorial Endowment Fund
Shawls created and worn by women in southern Tunisia for everyday or special occasions share common features and simultaneously highlight how techniques differ across one small area. Many motifs are repeated on creations throughout the region. For example, diamonds, crosses, or triangles may represent the North Star, the center poles of a tent, or an abstracted healing symbol, respectively. The colorfully embroidered designs on two small head shawls in the collection [see 2024.882 and 2024.885] distinguish them from the more formal composition of the larger bakhnouq (cover or shawl) [2025.564]; the rubbed indigo dye on the bakhnouq attests to its use.
Amazigh (singular) or Imazighen (plural), which translate as “free people,” are the preferred terms among the diverse and ancient cultural groups indigenous to North Africa, previously called the Berbers (which translates as “barbarians”).
Also notable
Works in the same vein
