This palepai is decorated with a design of four squares containing red ships carrying buildings and stylised human figures wearing horned headdresses and animals. The spots on the boats, the wave-like borders, and the triangles edging the fabric are all characteristics of Kalianda palepai. The design is somewhat unusual, and the use of square designs resembles tampan textile production. Several tampans are woven as a single piece of cloth and then cut apart into individual textiles. The natural dye colours of the supplementary threads – red, blue, ochre, cream – are typical of palepai.

Asian Art Department, AGNSW, 2011.