'Geringsing' are regarded as the most sacred of all Balinese cloths and are of particular importance for their use in magic, ritual and ceremony throughout Bali. This textile is woven from handspun cotton on a simple back-strap loom. The warp ends have been removed, signifying use in human, as opposed to divine, ceremonies. The design on the textile has been drawn from the idioms of Indian design, particularly the designs of the 'patola' cloths which originated in India and was brought to Indonesia as a trade cloth. The small holes on the ‘Geringsing’ are not moth holes but are part of the sacred use of these textiles where fragments are cut from these cloths and boiled, the liquid drunk as a medicine.

Asian Art Department, AGNSW, August 2000