Ewe male weavers are renowned for their narrow strip woven cloths, the designs not being regulated unlike Kente and Assante cloths . Clearly this was a special commission, a adanudo or 'skilled cloth' presented to Lt Com S W Saxton with many prestigious symbols.
The fabric is twice the size but has been doubled over and the tassels added.
The National Archive lists Saxton as leaving London for Accra, Ghana in 1923 at the age of 23. It lists his as a civil servant.
The cloth made up from seven narrow tan coloured woven strips, woven with horses, birds and geometric patterns, each design flanked with blocks of light and mid green, orange, pink, pale blue and yellow, and with Lt Com S W Saxton, RN embroidered and again S W Saxton, RN,
Length 7ft 2 in; 2.2 m
Width 2ft 8 in; 80 cm
You will see when you look at the back of the fabric that the tan fabric has faded overall and fairly evenly.
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
