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316 Solor Archipelago, Lembata
Kewatek (sarong)  
| | Locale: | Atadei, Lerek, probably Atawolo | | Period: | Early 20th c. | | Yarn: | Cotton, hand-spun, medium | | Technique: | Warp ikat | | Panels: | 3 | | Size: | 57 x 244 cm (1' 10" x 8' 0") LW: 4.28 | | Weight: | 1155 g (40.7 oz), 415 g/m2 (1.36 oz/ft2) | | Design: | Exuberant, ambitious petak haren nai telo, the classic Lembatan three-panel bridewealth sarong - in a highly ostentatious version of great length, most of which would have needed to be folded over when used as a sarong. This is an excellent example of competitive ikat: clearly the idea was to make a sarong that would make other women gasp. Barnes writes that this type of sarong is also called petak harin, 'good women's sarong'. The midfield, as usual in Atadei, is patola inspired. the bands flanking the midfield are decorated with stingrays, the outermost wide bands show the triangles with projections that are also seen in Lamelerap and there associated with whaling prahus. They do almost certainly represent boats, but probably a type with esoteric context. Human figures in orant position are drawn inside the triangles, but only their torsos. Note the numerous patola-inspired tumpal motifs used as finials. | | Comment: | The cloth is in a rare 'virginal' state: with the warp uncut. Also remarkable is that the three sections were sewn together using yarn that was touched up with little blotches of Perkin's violet (a.k.a. anilin), the earliest chemical dye. No doubt as a result of the humid climate on Lembata, the anilin bled into adjacent fibres, but nowhere more than one or two millimeters. This use of Perkin's vioilet was never seen before. The top and bottom panels each carry an accent stripe in a soft natural green - a rare dye type for the region. Atadei, while sometimes ranked with Lamaholot, really is a different language. Note that the people of Atadei, a region also referred to as Lerek, are not Lamaholot. While they can understand Lamaholot, long the lingua franca in the region, other Lamaholot do not understand Atadei. | | Background: | Chapters on Solor Archipelago and Lembata. | | Published: | Ikat from Timor and its Outer Islands, 2022.
| | Compare: | 119 115 131 047 126 | | Sources: | Design near identical to that on pre-1929 kewatek nai telo collected by Ernst Vatter in Atawolo, held in the Frankfurt Weltkulturen Museum, Kat. Nr. 63,.depicted in Barnes, Ostindonesien im 20. Jahrhundert, Abb. 181 - except that it is more than twice as long, the Vatter example being 139 cm long, and that the drawing is a little less detailed than on the Vatter specimen, which may also be a few decades older, as Vatter bought it in 1928 or 1929, presumably with some age. What the cloths do have in common is their virginal state, indicating their use as bridewealth, in the case of this cloth with the added value of stunning size. Hamilton (1994:181): 'Atad�i bridewealth cloths are often exceptionally long and derive their appeal from bold, strong shapes with contrasting red and black. Areas dyed with indigo are never allowed to remain blue; they are always overdyed with morinda.' Similar example in McIntosh, Thread and Fire, Fig. 7.38. only a little shorter at 212 cm. | | |
©Peter ten Hoopen, 2025
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ONLINE MUSEUM OF INDONESIAN IKAT TEXTILES
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