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saboiboi (?) woman's skirtcloth Lake Sentani region, Irian Jaya, Indonesia bark-cloth, ochres painting 127.0 x 57.0 ern Australian National Gallery 1985.1870
The framed asymmetry of this Lake Sentani painted bark-cloth contrasts with the bold repeated designs on other Melanesian bark-cloth. Cloths of these dimensions are worn by women as festive skirts, and on the death of a young woman, bark-cloths are also hung by the grave. This particular cloth, with ochre-brown and black designs on a natural ground, was part of a collection of ethnographic art belonging to and inspiring the European artist Max Ernst. It was probably brought to Paris in the early 1930s.
szga man's headcloth To Bada people, Bada district, central Sulawesi, Indonesia bark-cloth, pigments painting 92.0 x 91.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1982.2296
Studies of Toraja bark-cloth iconography (Kaudern, 1944; Kooijman, 1963; Adriani and Kruyt, 1912; Greub, 1988) suggest that the central motif on this black, white and luminous-pink headcloth of paper-thin, felted bark-cloth represents either the sirih leaves used in the ancient custom of betel-nut chewing or the ears of the water buffalo. However, buffalo-head patterns (petonu or petondu) can be clearly identified in each corner of the cloth. Other motifs on this early twentieth-century bark-cloth may represent the sun or valuable beads.
(detail) baro (?) loincloth Halmahera, Indonesia bark-cloth, pigments, shells painting, drawing, appliqué Museum voor Land- en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam 6814
Meticulous black and white pigment-painted line drawings decorate the belts, loincloths and head-dresses of Seram and the Halmaheras. In this late nineteenth-century example of two ends of a loincloth from Halmahera, the basic fabric is fine, cream-coloured bark-cloth, stained with yellow and brown. The remnants of a shell appliqué trim are still evident.
poté widow's hood Sa'dan Toraja people, central Sulawesi, Indonesia cotton, natural dyes tablet weaving, macramé, tapestry weave 110.0 x 92.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1983.3685
This is an unusual tablet- and tapestry-woven fabric, folded and joined along one side to form a hood. It seems to date from around 1900. Like most Sa'dan Toraja funeral garments, after weaving it has been dyed black, apparently with crushed Homolanthus populneas leaves and mud. Articles of clothing of the deceased are ceremonially blackened with leaves and mud, and it seems that the hoods worn by Sa'dan Toraja widows were also coloured in this way (Solyom and Solyom, 1985: 4 7; Nooy-Palm, 1975: 66). Toraja men also wear poté mourning cloths but of a different type. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, bark-cloth appears to have been retained as widows' garb, and mourning hoods made from bark-cloth are recorded among certain Dayak peoples of Borneo.
The Dusun and Tempasuk of Sabah wear cowl-like hoods for both work and ceremonial occasions, sometimes with bead or shell bands along the edges. Although comparatively rare, these various examples of shaped hoods may have developed from the widespread Southeast Asian practice of covering the head with an open or folded textile during funerary and other life-cycle rites.
pio uki' ceremonial loincloth; banner Kalumpang or Sa'dan Toraja people, central Sulawesi, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes supplementary weft weave 51 7.0 x 51.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1981.1127
This early twentieth-century ceremonial hanging follows the older format for men's loincloths (pio or piu), with an undecorated white centre for wrapping around the body and intricately worked woven panels which fall in front and behind the wearer. In the twentieth century, the pio have also functioned as ceremonial banners, known as tombi, which are apparently viewed as talismans (Koubi, 1982: 219 fn. 6). The term uki' (ukir, to carve) suggests that the patterns on these loincloths, like the patterning (okir) on cloths woven by the Maranao women of Mindanao, are closely related to the carving done by men.
The realistic scenes of village life including buffalo-drawn ploughs, dogs, chickens in cages and traditional houses found on this cloth are rare on Southeast Asian textiles. The scene evokes images of fertility and prosperity, and the large number of figures suggests the importance of this cloth. The figure in the lower left corner is probably female, while a man sits in the shelter accompanied by his prize fighting-cock. The curved roof of the structure, a rice granary rather than a large dwelling, is identical to those still fou nd in Sa'dan Toraja villages today and this is reinforced by the effect of the floating weft threads which suggests thatching. The empty shape in the upper right-hand corner probably depicts a fish-pond in the rice fields.
In contrast to the human figures, which appear in red, the buffaloes are worked in blue thread, with the heads turned to show their wide horn span. One appears to have a highly valued light blaze on its forehead. The schematic designs in the other supplementary weft bands in red, blue and green, include the star-shaped motif known as doli langi' (spots of heaven), like the buffalo a symbol of wealth and abundance.
A platoon of local Filipino soldiers from a regiment raised in Luzon early this century. Despite their recruitment into the American colonial army, the men still wear their traditional loincloths and brass leggings.
hita; hitilirrati man's loincloth or girdle Oirata district (?), Kisar, South Maluku, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat, supplementary weft weave, twining 10.6 x 301.2 cm; 13.0 x 250.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1985.383; 1985.384
These nineteenth-century men's cotton loincloths demonstrate the contrast between the warp patterns in subdued red or brown, blue and neutral warp ikat and the bright yellow supplementary weft ends which hang when worn in front and behind. Loincloths with these elaborate, asymmetrical, supplementary patterns were reserved for ceremonial wear. The same ancient warp ikat motifs are also found in horizontal bands on woman's cylindrical skirts. While zigzag patterns appear to depict snakes, and other Kisar loincloths also contain bird motifs, the meaning of the hooks and spirals is unknown. Small human figures appear along the borders of the shorter cloth. Loincloths on Kisar, as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, are no longer worn as originally intended and are now used as girdles and shawls.
tanda sirat; klapong sirat end-panels of a man's loincloth Iban people, Sarawak, Malaysia handspun cotton, natural dyes, brass bells supplementary weft weave, supplementary weft wrapping 42.0 x 28.6 cm; 47.0 x 31.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1981.1149
The decorative ends of the long wrap-around loincloth (sirat) of the Iban (and those of other closely related Dayak groups in Indonesian Kalimantan such as the Desa and the Kantuk) are usually worked in supplementary thread patterns, usually red and indigo-blue on a white foundation weave. Both panels are sometimes woven in one length of fabric to be cut and sewn to a separate length of plain cloth, in this instance apparently a length of red Indian imported cotton fabric. However, the designs on each sirat end are usually characteristically different. On this late nineteenth-century example, the patterns on the rear panel are contained in narrow bands of supplementary weft weaving (pilih) while the front panel consists of a square of supplementary weft-wrapped design (sungkit) filled with stylized figures. The anthropomorphic figures are reduced to crosses on the front, and pairs of similar stylized figures also appear on the back.
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