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| | | | 115 Solor Archipelago, Lembata
Kewatek (sarong)
| | Locale: | Ili Api. Lamaholot people. | | Period: | 19th or early 20th c. | | Panels: | 2 | | Design: | This asymmetric watek ohing represents the high end of the second class in the hierarchy of Ili Ape bridewealth sarongs. These are ranked by the number of bands, always uneven, of which they are composed. The more bands, the higher the value: seven, nine or, as in this example, thirteen. This ranking correlates with the length of the ivory tusk the family of the groom needs to transfer (Linda S. Mcintosh, pers. comm., 2026). Asymmetry in the bridewealth sarongs form Ili Ape is significant as it contrasts with other types of sarong made on Lembata, which all are or attempt to be symmetric, and reflects a unique technique: in Ili Ape the dyers do not create panels, but narrow bands, that are later joined to form panels | | Size: | 68.5 x 151 cm (26.9 x 59.4 in) | | Yarn: | Cotton, hand-spun, coarse | | Comment: | Remarkably, when Barnes published a similarly asymmetric but lower grade watek ohing with seven bands from the Kahlenberg collection (Barnes & Hunt Kahlenberg 2010:346, 347), in her circa 750 word description she did not comment on its asymmetry, suggesting that she did not notice it, or find it interesting. This confirms her widely held reputation as an indifferent scholar: “Barnes is not interested in details”. This is again confirmed by her comment regarding the motifs in the Kahlenberg sarong: “[...] the linked heart shapes in this example almost certainly reflect a patola design (ibid.: 346).” Indeed they do, but Barnes did not take the trouble to find out which patola design they might reflect, to:wit the Paan Bhat (see Peter ten Hoopen, Ikat Textiles of Eastern Indonesia: A Study of Style and Technique, Chapter ‘Patola Influence, Newly Identified’, Section ‘ Paan Bhat’.)
The example shown here is similar to another, likely slightly younger watek ohing in the author’s collection, which with its nine bands, stands one step lower in the Ili Ape bridewealth hierarchy. | | Background: | Additional information in chapters on Solor Archipelago and Lembata. | | Published: |
Woven Languages, 2014.
Ikat Textiles of the Indonesian Archipelago, 2018.
| | Compare: | 131 047 119 048 126 | | Sources: | Ssimilar to alower ranked two panel watek ohing in Barnes and Hunt Kahlenberg, Five centuries of Indonesian Textiles, p. 347; to 19th C. kewatek in Granucci, Art of the Lesser Sundas, Fig. 109; as well as to PC 131, but with clearer, tighter ikat. | | |
 ©Peter ten Hoopen, 2026
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