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]
 


left arrowright arrow

Ikat from Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
 

066 Sulawesi, Toraja


Seko mandi (shroud)  magnifiermicroscope



Locale: Galumpang district.
Period: 1970s
Yarn: Cotton, hand-spun, medium; loosely twined 2-ply warp, twin weft.
Technique: Warp ikat
Panels: 2
Size: 149 x 181 cm (4' 10" x 5' 11")   LW: 1.21
Weight: 950 g (33.5 oz), 352 g/m2 (1.15 oz/ft2)
Design: The meaning of the shimmery, psychedelic, pattern with its disturbed order is not certain. It is said by some authors to represent highly stylised human figures, but may also represent bamboo shoots. Whatever its meaning, the pattern vibrates with tension and seems irrepressibly alive.
Comment: Toraja ikat from the 'revival' period, but of uncommonly high quality. Khan Majlis: 'Tiny offsets in the positioning of the rows of diamonds, diagonal connecting lines and alternation between light and dark fill the sequence of simple ornaments with tension and life.' [Size yet to be entered.]
Background: Chapters on Sulawesi and Toraja.
Exhibited: Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, 2014/15.
Published: Woven Languages, 2014.
Compare: 067
Sources: Near-identical cloth in British Museum, AN331708001. Nearly identical to midfield of cloth from Galumpang in Khan-Majlis, Woven Messages, Fig. 396. Similar to seko mandi in Textile Museum of Canada, ref. nr. T77.0107. Pattern shows curious similarity to Iban pua in Serawak Museum with pucuk (puchok) rebong, bamboo shoots pattern.
  
Add personal note




©Peter ten Hoopen, 2024
All rights reserved.