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| | | | 023 Timor, West Timor
Beti naek (men's wrap)
| | Locale: | Insana or Ambenu | | Period: | 1920-1940 | | Panels: | 2 | | Design: | Men's wrap of the type that Yeager and Jacobson call 'multiple design stripe' type, which is found mostly in the Atoni border areas of Belu: Biboki, Insana, Amanatun, and the Ambenu semi-exclave. The motifs are not in Y&J and could not be solidly identified. We take them to be rudimentary birds, as their general shape recalls the famous fowl of Insana. Note the asymmetry, on two levels. Usually the two panels are mounted so they mirror each other, here they were mounted in the same direction. Moreover, the seam does not run in the middle, but 40 cm from one outer selvedge, and 45 from the other. Part of the warp was transposed from one panel to the other to achieve symmetry, in dualist Austronesian cosmology an important desirable, as it brings complementarity, hence wholeness, balance, harmony. | | Size: | 85 x 155 cm (33.4 x 61 in) | | Weight: | 605 g (459 g/m2) | | Yarn: | Cotton, hand-spun, medium | | Comment: | Created in hand-spun yarn and vegetable dyes, including the yellow and pastel green pinstripes. The morinda, probably because of admixtures, has a dark ochre shade. The cloth has a beautiful, warm tonality and is a delight to wear around the shoulder, as it has a certain sturdiness without being heavy. The indigo is deeply saturated, yet tightly controlled: all the outlines are sharp, with no observable dye seepage, a quality that Insana is known for. This aspect supports an attribution to Insana, though the asymmetry makes Ambenu, where it is more sought, another good candidate for attribution. In Ambenu this type of cloth is called a mau naek. | | Background: | Additional information in chapters on Timor and West Timor. | | Sources: | Yeager and Jacobson, Textiles of Western Timor, Ch. 5.3.3.3. An Insana beti with a similar motif, but more detailed, is shown in Plate 146. | | |
 ©Peter ten Hoopen, 2024
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