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342 Sumba, East Sumba
Hinggi (men's blanket)
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Locale: | Kanatang |
Period: | 19th century |
Yarn: | Cotton, hand-spun, medium (not plied), rare single weft, |
Technique: | Warp ikat |
Panels: | 2 |
Size: | 112 x 230 cm (3' 8" x 7' 6") LW: 2.05 |
Weight: | 840 g (29.6 oz), 326 g/m2 (1.07 oz/ft2) |
Design: | The nine-band lay-out of this antique hinggi gave the dyer ample space for large main motifs: skull trees with snakes curling around them, and horses facing each other. Room was also left for a generous kundu duku, the midsection that graces the nobleman's shoulders. The latter has an unusual patola-inspired midfield. The type of patolu it emulates was not yet identified. Some ikat made in the Lio district of Flores has a similar lattice patterning. Note that when the two panels were sewn together at their selvedges one of the panels was reversed, with asymmetry as a result. On Sumba, single weft is typically used only in narrow shawls, and very rarely encountered in hinggi. It produces drawing with slightly better resolution. |
Comment: | The are two spots, about the size of a handprint, where the cloth was damaged, presumably because it was tacked to a pole or the supports of an awning or some such structure, probably to display it, perhaps over a ruler's seat. See detail below. |
Background: | Chapters on Sumba and East Sumba. |
Published: | Ikat from Timor and its Outer Islands, 2022. Noble Virtuosity: Hidden Asymmetry in Ikat from Sumba, 2024. |
Sources: | Origin determined by Kinga Lauren. |
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©Peter ten Hoopen, 2024 All rights reserved.
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