Dahomey Applique Cloth
Dahomey applique is the court textile of the Fon, a rectangular cloth of cotton on which cut-out cloth figures are sewn to record royal history and proverb: kings, warriors, the kingdom's celebrated women soldiers, animals and scenes of triumph, each figure placed in a tableau that tells a story at a glance. The cloths were commissioned for the royal court of Abomey and were carried as banners and hung as umbrella covers in the great processions, where the king's deeds marched before him in fabric. The leading artisans were the kings' own embroiderers, and the tradition was passed down in work