This silk cloth would have been used on ceremonial occasions by a king, chief, or other person of high status among the Asante.
Textiles also serve as visual interpretations of myths and proverbs.
While we cannot be sure of the actual use of this individual cloth, its bright colors and intricate designs suggest a great variety of possibilities. For the Asante, like many other African peoples, textiles are equated with wealth, status, and power. Textiles represent symbolic wealth, as well as material wealth in terms of the thriving international textile market. The abstract design at the center of each rectangle on this kente cloth is uniquely asymmetrical and would have taken care to weave. Irregularities consistently appear in sub-Saharan textile design, and provide an interesting contrast to the symmetry usually found in African sculpture design.