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Sumatran, Sumatra

Hip wrapper (kain songket), 1800s

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Sumatran

Title

Hip wrapper (kain songket)

Year

1800s

Medium

Silk, metal-wrapped thread; weft ikat, supplementary gold weft patterning (songket

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • silk

Dimensions

Length: 182.9 cm (72 inches)

Place

Sumatra

Type

  • Textiles

Credit

Gift of Marshall H. Gould

Object Number

46.211

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Zone of Attraction

June 26 - December 6, 2009

Gold has communicated ceremonial significance, wealth, and prestige throughout history. These paired textiles show two techniques of gold work on cloth, each representative of its region in Indonesia. Prada, or painting with gold, has long been a form of embellishment in Bali, and was once an important component in the masked dance drama known as topeng. Today, prada decoration is commonly seen in temple festivals. The example on view here is of the finest sort and would have taken six months to a year to complete. The base fabric originated in Java, where it was hand drawn and resist-dyed multiple times with indigo to achieve its saturated blue. The gold was later applied by hand in Bali. The second textile is an example of songket, gold-wrapped supplemental weft threads and weft ikat. Characteristic of Sumatra, songket textiles are used to underlay sacrificial offerings, to embellish architecture, and for making clothing and parasols.

A World of Costume and Textiles

September 22 - November 12, 1989

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Hip wrapper (kain songket) with the accession number of 46.211. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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