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133 Timor, West Timor
Sarong  
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| 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: | Extremely long ceremonial sarong. Its height is about one-and-a-half that of the average Timorese woman. 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 a diamond-shaped lozenge (kaif) radiating out from the centre. Alternating stripes in ikat and trade yarn. |
| Comment: | Tube skirt for formal occasions and for use as a shroud. Its great length hints at a liberty to go to extremes in terms of expense of labour, a demonstration of conspicuous leisure in the sense of Veblen (1899). The complex patterning in the midsection and its very fine execution evince manufacture by an accomplished dyer. So does the deep and even dye saturation. 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. |
| 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.
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| Sources: | Very similar to sarong dated as mid 20th c. in Australian Powerhouse (formerly Museum for Applied Arts and Science)s, Obj. A10899. Region identified by Aja Bordeville. Information on patterning by Julie Emery. |
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©Peter ten Hoopen, 2025
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