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Ikat from East Sumba, Sumba, Indonesia
 

342 Sumba, East Sumba


Hinggi (men's blanket)microscope



Locale: Kanatang
Period: 19th century
Yarn: Cotton, hand-spun, medium (not plied), rare single weft,
Technique: Warp ikat
Panels: 2
Size: 112 x 230 cm (3' 8" x 7' 6")   LW: 2.05
Weight: 840 g (29.6 oz), 326 g/m2 (1.07 oz/ft2)
Design: The nine-band lay-out of this antique hinggi gave the dyer ample space for large main motifs: skull trees with snakes curling around them, and horses facing each other. Room was also left for a generous kundu duku, the midsection that graces the nobleman's shoulders. The latter has an unusual patola-inspired midfield. The type of patolu it emulates was not yet identified. Some ikat made in the Lio district of Flores has a similar lattice patterning. Note that when the two panels were sewn together at their selvedges one of the panels was reversed, with asymmetry as a result. On Sumba, single weft is typically used only in narrow shawls, and very rarely encountered in hinggi. It produces drawing with slightly better resolution.
Comment: The are two spots, about the size of a handprint, where the cloth was damaged, presumably because it was tacked to a pole or the supports of an awning or some such structure, probably to display it, perhaps over a ruler's seat. See detail below.
Background: Chapters on Sumba and East Sumba.
Published: Ikat from Timor and its Outer Islands, 2022.
Noble Virtuosity: Hidden Asymmetry in Ikat from Sumba, 2024.
Sources: Origin determined by Kinga Lauren.
  
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