THE PATTERNED IMAGINATION: A STUDY OF SELECTED WEST AFRICAN TEXTILES IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE MAGIC SQUARES REPRESENTED ON THEM PATRICIA BENTLEY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies York University Toronto, Canada April 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91722-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-91722-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract The Patterned Imagination examines certain visual repeat patterns in order to better understand their unique role in the production of cultural meanings. The specific focus of the study is on a constellation of patterns that emerge from magic squares, especially on West African textiles in an Islamic context. Magic squares are represented in patterns on many Islamic West African textiles as talismans with the power to effect protection and healing for the wearer. A pattern is also a blueprint, a guide for making something, and it is in this sense of the word that I contend the magic square acts as a “pattern engine” in West African visual cultures. The textiles examined are in the collections of the Textile Museum of Canada, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The study analyzes how the meaning of their patterns has changed through their move from their originating space into an institutional space. V Acknowledgements Interdisciplinary Studies at York enabled me to pursue the aspects of mathematics, art, and cultural history that relate to the study of pattern. Throughout, Jamie Scott perceptively encouraged and advised me in my project’s direction. I felt privileged to be a student in the program. I also would like to acknowledge the support and guidance of the following individuals and extend to them my warmest thanks. My supervisory committee, Leslie Korrick, Steve Bailey, and Margaret Sinclair, offered me valuable insights and suggestions as I chose my topic and began my research, and cogent editing as I wrote the chapters. When Professor Sinclair withdrew due to illness, Ruba Kana’an stepped in, providing the expert knowledge of Islamic art, and sensitivity to its place in the West African milieu, that my project needed in its later stages. I am also very grateful to Mary Leigh Morbey and Zulfikar Hirji for their help and advice. It has been an honour to work with all of them. Table of Contents Copyright Page ........................................................................................................................ii Certificate Page......................................................................................................................iii Abstract .................................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................vi List of Figures.......................................................................................................................vii Chapter One, Introduction ......................................................................................................1 Chapter Two, Review of the Literature on Magic Squares in Muslim West African Visual Cultures ..................................................................................................................................19 Chapter Three, Transformations of the Magic Square: The Shirt from Burkina Faso 41 Chapter Four, the Magic Square as a Pattern Engine ......................................................... 69 Chapter Five, Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 98 Appendix A: Translation and Interpretation of the Shirt Front by Ruba Kana’a n .......... 108 Works Cited........................................................................................................................ 116 List of Figures Figure 1: A 3 x 3 magic square .............................................................................................2 Figure 2: A 3 x 3 magic square, (left) consecutive numbers joined by lines and (right) even numbers coloured in .....................................................................................................21 Figure 3: (left) The continuous method of creating a 3 x 3 magic square; (right) a torus. 21 Figure 4: The gnomon, an L-shaped symbol ....................................................................... 25 Figure 5: Shirt (side with two squares), Village of Kiembara, Burkina Faso, Mossi, c. 1990, cotton, hand-spun, woven, sewn, and inscribed with Arabic writing and graphic symbols, gift of Victoria Henry, T91.0091 TMC................................................................58 Figure 6: Shirt (side with one square), Village of Kiembara, Burkina Faso, Mossi, c. 1990, cotton, hand-spun, woven, sewn, and inscribed with Arabic writing and graphic symbols, gift of Victoria Henry, T91.0091 TMC............................................................... 59 Figure 7: Pattern drawing of the shirt showing the continuous strips over the shoulders. 60 Figure 8: The Arabic text on the shirt translated into English, with arrows indicating the order of the text. The panel with the squares can be read independently. Translated from Arabic by Ruba Kana’an ...................................................................................................... 61 Figure 9: Talismanic shirt, fifteenth or early sixteenth century, India (north India or the Deccan), ink, gold, and colors on stiffened cotton, purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 1998.199 Metropolitan Museum of Art...............................................................................62 Figure 10: (left) The 2 x 2 square on one side of the Burkina Faso shirt .......................... 63 Figure 11: The translation of the 2 x 2 square in Figure 10 ................................................63 Figure 12: Tunic front (above) and back (below), Nigeria, Hausa, late nineteenth century, cotton, leather, paper, pigment, acquired from Captain Alfred Walter Francis Fuller, A fl940,23.1 The British Museum ....................................................................................... 64 Figure 13: Hunter’s shirt, Mali, c.1900, cotton, strip-woven and sewn, with attached leather-covered amulets, gift of Dr. Peter Herschman, T86.0071 TMC ............................ 65 Figure 14: Hunter’s coat, Mali, 1960-70, cotton, woven and embellished with amulets and mirrors, museum purchase, T81.0112 TMC .................................................................66 Figure 15: Tunic, Liberia, twentieth century, cotton, strip-woven, sewn, appliqued and embroidered, from the Opekar/Webster Collection, T94.3006 TMC ................................ 67 Figure 16: Robe (shabka), Nigeria, Hausa, 1920-1929, cotton, silk, strip-woven, sewn, embroidered, needle lace, From the Opekar/Webster Collection, T94.3007 TMC ...........68 Figure 17: Page from a Hausa Qur’an, Nigeria, nineteenth century.Web. Leamingarabicweekly.com. Accessed 10 Nov 2010 .......................................................... 68 Figure 18: The scenario of Gioseffo Zarlino (25)..............................................................74 Figure 19: The Klein Group represented by white and black values ............................... 75 Figure 20: The Klein Group represented by even and odd values ....................................76