Kuba Cloth?

When I pulled these out of an estate auction leftover sale for pennies on the dollar I assumed they were Kuba cloth. Fast forward probably about a year I decided to pull them out of a box and find out. Condition isn’t perfect but I think they are beautiful. Was my assumption correct or are these something else entirely?

 

I can't tell if that's made of raffia palm fibres....

 

Neither are Kuba cloth. The assembly of narrow bands of cotton cloth stitched together is very characteristic of West African textiles.

The first is an example of bogolanfini, or mudcloth, made by the Bamana/Bambara in Mali. The dark areas are created by first painting on a plant-derived solution that is high in tannins, followed by a local mud that contains iron compounds. The iron reacts with the tannins to create the dark color. (The chemical process is similar to that used to make iron-gall ink.)

The second cloth with the embroidered elements is from the same general region, and the dark stripes also appear mud-dyed. But I need to take a bit more time to check references to be more specific.

 

Thanks this is great information. Your post elicited a memory that when I got it I thought it was mud cloth. I don’t think I knew the term “kuba cloth” then. Now I know it but I didn’t know there was a difference between mud cloth and Kuba cloth. So I substituted the term thinking maybe it was more appropriate. Now that you’ve come in I do the difference. I wonder if the embroidered cloth is old and/or potentially tribally used or if it’s just beat up? Based on the estate I got it out of I can’t imagine it was very new at all but can’t speculate much on how old. Would be nice to know the term for the other if you do happen upon it.