Ceremonial Textile
late 14th century -15th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This cotton ceremonial cloth has a design of a woman carrying a parrot with female attendants holding an umbrella. The design is repeated over two registers. The motifs mimic those seen in western Indian manuscript painting of the period 1400-1500 and earlier. Radiocarbon-14 dating of the cloth has confirmed a date in this range.
This cloth was produced in Gujarat, western India, but was collected in the Toraja area of central Sulawesi. Here, cloths like this one served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest festivals and celebrations of rites of passage.
This cloth was produced in Gujarat, western India, but was collected in the Toraja area of central Sulawesi. Here, cloths like this one served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest festivals and celebrations of rites of passage.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Cotton, block-printed. |
| Brief description | Ceremonial textile, block-printed cotton, made in Gujarat for the Indonesian market, late 14th century - 15th century |
| Physical description | Ceremonial cotton cloth block-printed with a design of a woman carying a parrot with female attendants holding an umbrella. The design is repeated over two registers. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Credit line | Purchased with Art Fund support |
| Object history | The motifs in this textile mimmick those seen in western Indian manuscript painting of the15th century and earlier. Radiocarbon 14 dating has confirmed a date in this range. This cloth was produced in Gujarat, western India, and collected in the Toraja area of central Sulawesi, where such items served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest ferstivals and the rites of passage celebrations. |
| Summary | This cotton ceremonial cloth has a design of a woman carrying a parrot with female attendants holding an umbrella. The design is repeated over two registers. The motifs mimic those seen in western Indian manuscript painting of the period 1400-1500 and earlier. Radiocarbon-14 dating of the cloth has confirmed a date in this range. This cloth was produced in Gujarat, western India, but was collected in the Toraja area of central Sulawesi. Here, cloths like this one served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest festivals and celebrations of rites of passage. |
| Bibliographic reference | John Guy, Woven Cargoes, Indian Textiles in the east, Thames and Hudson, 1996, pl. 146. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.95-1993 |
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| Record created | January 19, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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