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Details
- Place where the work was made
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North Sumatra
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Indonesia
- Cultural origin
- Batak
- Date
- 20th century
- Media category
- Textile
- Materials used
- handspun cotton, natural dyes; twill weave with supplementary weft design at centre and at ends
- Dimensions
- 42.2 x 220 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Bequest of Alex Biancardi 2000
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 242.2000
- Copyright
- © Copyright reserved
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About
This headcloth is most likely to be associated with fertility. Woven in earth tones and heightened with blue, the geometric design on the end panels incorporates an elongated triangular motif symbolising the male principle, whilst the diamond design in the central section of this cloth represents the female principle. Textiles bearing this male-female design are used in rites by peasant farmers to secure an abundant harvest.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, August 2000
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Mattiebelle Gittinger, Splendid symbols: textiles and tradition in Indonesia, Singapore, 1990.
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Mary Hunt Kahlenberg, Textile traditions of Indonesia, Los Angeles, 1977.
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Robyn Maxwell, Textiles of Southeast Asia : tradition, trade and transformation, Canberra, 1990, 139.
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