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Ikat from Nusa Penida, Bali Group, Indonesia
 

129 Bali Group, Nusa Penida


Kain cepuk  magnifiermicroscope



Locale: Identification as Nusa Penida in inconclusive. It may also have been made on Bali.
Period: 1935 or before
Yarn: Cotton, hand-spun, fine
Technique: Weft ikat
Panels: 1
Size: 91 x 232 cm (2' 11" x 7' 7")   LW: 2.55
Weight: 360 g (12.7 oz), 171 g/m2 (0.56 oz/ft2)
Design: Not one, but two kamben cepuk, still uncut after weaving. Traditional patola inspired design of kamben cepuk, called kamben cepuk padma, padma meaning lotus. The intense red has been achieved by the addition of sirih (betel) to the dye mix. This was first mentioned by the Bali-based dealer who sold it, a man of good standing, and though the colour is exactly that of sirih spit, it was long taken as possibly apocryphal, but in 2018 confirmed by a Portuguese fieldworker (see Literature) who made an inquiry at our request.
Comment: Very good example of classic ceremonial Balinese cloth, with beautiful sirih red tonality. A true pusaka, of a kind that is increasingly rare. Minute signs of wear, excellent condition overall. Signed in margin: Sudarma. Note that the use of sirih as dye supplement on Nusa Penida is not known from literature, but its use on Savu and in India is known, see below. Kamben cepuk in uncut condition is rare, the only other examples the author is aware of being the one in Indonesische Textilien, Wege zu Goettern und Ahnen mentioned below and our PC 043.
Background: Chapters on Bali Group and Nusa Penida.
Exhibited: Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, 2014/15.
Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery, 2017.
Published:
Woven Languages, 2014.
Ikat Textiles of the Indonesian Archipelago, 2018.
Compare: 043 124 046
Sources: Gittinger, Splendid Symbols, Fig. 106. Khan Majlis, Indonesische Textilien, Wege zu Goettern und Ahnen, Fig. 323 and p.73. Buehler, Patola Influences, Plate 14. Type description in Nabholz-Kartaschoff's contribution to Völger and Von Welck, Indonesian Textiles, p. 124. Nabholz-Kartaschoff in Gittinger, To Speak with Cloth, Fig. 32, identifies this pattern as typical for Nusa Penida. Franco Brunello, The Art of Dyeing, mentions sirih used as dye in India. Duggan, Ikats of Savu, mentions use of sirih spit as (ingredient in) dye on Savu, p24. A definitive confirmation of the use of sirih on Nusa Penida was obtained In 2018 by anthropologist Carolina Pinto (ISCTE, Lisbon) who does fieldwork on the island and at our request put the question to weavers in Tanglad. These told her that their reds were mainly made with sunti (morinda) root bark, and that they added sirih and lime into the dye mix when they wanted to achieve a very intense red.
  
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