Logo Pusaka Collection
spacer ONLINE MUSEUM OF INDONESIAN IKAT TEXTILES   CURATOR: Dr PETER TEN HOOPEN  BROWSE FROM:  [RANDOM] [001] [050] [100] [150] [200] [250] [300] [350] [375]
 


right arrow    mouse over to magnifyright arrow

Ikat from Bangka, Sumatra, Indonesia
 

147 Sumatra, Bangka


Limar (shawl)



Locale: Probably Muntuk on Bangka, less likely Palembang on Sumatra. Malay people.
Period: 1850-1900
Panels: 1
Design: Kain limar, shoulder cloth in fine silk for married woman of high standing. Most likely from Muntok on the offshore island Bangka, else from Palembang region on Sumatra. Central field, badan, decorated in ikat with bunga cogan aka bunga gajah madam otifs that represent highly stylized Garuda wings - intentionally made unrecognizable as Islam forbids depiction of people and animals. The field is elaborately framed in songket benang mas, supplementary weft in gold thread. Tumpal style end borders.
Size: 90 x 229 cm (35.4 x 90.1 in)
Yarn: Silk, hand-spun
Comment: Outstanding example of the traditional high status shoulder cloth of this region. A masterpiece in immaculate condition. The predominance of creamy yellow tones speaks for provenance from Bangka rather than Palembang. Natural dyes. This type of red is called merah pulasan, after pulasan fruit (wild rambutan), or merah ikan, after the blood of fish.
Background: Additional information in chapters on Sumatra and Bangka.
Published:
Woven Languages, 2014.
Ikat Textiles of the Indonesian Archipelago, 2018.
Compare: 069 070 205
Sources: Very similar to limar in Hunt and Kahlenberg, Five Centuries of Indonesian Textiles, p. 94; and to one in Brinkgreve and Stuart-Fox, Living with Indonesian Art, Fig. 98. Pattern of ikated field nearly identical to that of limar in Völger and Von Welck, , Appendix, Fig. 44, though its songket borders are simpler. See also Khan Majlis, Wege zu Goettern und Ahnen, Fig. 110, 114, 116. Also Gittinger, Splendid Symbols, Fig. 65. Very similar to National Gallery of Australia NGA2000.808, also to NGA2000.904 and NGA2000.870, and to Boston Museum of Fine Arts, nr. 30.821.
  
Add personal note
©Peter ten Hoopen, 2024
All rights reserved.