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Ikat from West Timor, Timor, Indonesia
 

133 Timor, West Timor


Sarongdetail  magnifiermicroscope


Locale: Insana District. Timor Tengah Utara.
Period: Circa 1950
Yarn: Cotton, largely hand-spun
Technique: Warp ikat
Panels: 4
Size: 60 x 230 cm (1' 11" x 7' 6")   LW: 3.83
Weight: 1210 g (42.7 oz), 438 g/m2 (1.44 oz/ft2)
Design: Dark indigo field, midsection (comprising about half its length) with wide bands in indigo on white ikat with kaimnatu motif: hook and rhomb design in diamond lozenge (kaif) radiating out from the centre. Alternating stripes in ikat and trade yarn.
Comment: Long tube skirt for formal occasions and for use as shroud, slightly askew. The complex patterning in the midsection and its very fine execution are proof of manufacture by an accomplished weaver. Each hook represents a member of the weaver's clan and each dot a totemic guardian spirit. The kaif motif is repeated in many forms throughout the West Timorese ikat tradition. Some vague smudging on plain indigo bottom section.
Background: Chapters on Timor and West Timor.
Exhibited: Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, 2014/15..
Timor: Totems and Tokens, Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, 2019/20.
Published:
Woven Languages, 2014.
Ikat Textiles of the Indonesian Archipelago, 2018.
Timor: Totems and Tokens, 2019.
Sources: Very similar to sarong dated as mid 20th c. in Museum for Applied Arts and Sciences, Obj. A10899. Region identified by Aja Bordeville. Information on patterning by Julie Emery.
  
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