Unknown Artist
- Title
- carrying cloth ('ulos mangiring')
- Place of origin
-
Sumatra →
Indonesia
- Cultural origin
- Batak people
- Year
- 20th century
- Media category
- Textile
- Materials used
- handspun cotton, natural dyes; warp 'ikat' with supplementary weft weave
- Dimensions
-
97.7 x 155.6cm [weft x woven warp]; 189.0cm [warp and tassle]
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Bequest of Alex Biancardi 2000
- Accession number
- 249.2000
- Copyright
- © Copyright reserved
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
The textiles woven by the Batak people were never pictorial nor did it include recognisable figures but consisted primarily of warp 'ikat' designs and simple geometric shapes. Specific combinations of colours and stripes serve different talismanic or healing functions. This example consists of a striking arrowhead pattern in dark stripes set against a rich maroon background and decorated with a supplementary weft weave in a metallic yarn. Used as a carrying cloth, it would have been presented by the maternal grandparent on the birth of their daughter's first child.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, August 2000
- Bibliography (3)
-
Robyn Maxwell (Australia) (Author), Textiles of Southeast Asia : tradition, trade and transformation, Canberra, 1990.
Mattiebelle Gittinger (United States of America) (Author), Splendid symbols: textiles and tradition in Indonesia, Singapore, 1990.
Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (United States of America) (Author), Textile traditions of Indonesia, Los Angeles, 1977.
