1983.131 Ceremonial cloth (pua sungkit)

Elongated nabau, the ferocious giant water serpents, are placed along the sides of the central panel, or "main body," to contain the deities on this cloth. These deities include, from bottom to top, six females kneeling with their arms outstretched as if the receive an object; six demigods, each wearing a loincloth and a sword belt decorated with charms and amulets, and dangling a rattan basket containing a freshly taken trophy head; and three rows of humanlike figures who may represent slain enemies. The raised figures were masterfully created by extra wefts inserted during the weaving process.

Pua sungkit were used at religious festivals celebrating the introduction of a new trophy head into the communal longhouse. A ritual performed at such times caused the intense spiritual force of the blanket to transform the potential malevolence of the trophy head into that of goodwill imbued with potency and fecundity.

Roslyn A. Walker, Label text, 2016.

Borneo: The Island-Its Peoples    

n.d.: Steven G. Alpert, Dallas, Texas, collected at a village in the Katibas River area, Malaysia

1983: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from above [1]

Notes:

The main source for this provenance is the Pacific American Corp. document titled "Dallas Museum of Art: The Steven G. Alpert Collection of Indonesian Textiles" in the Collections Records file labeled Steven G. Alpert—Indonesian Textiles. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[1] See pages 1-4 of the correspondence between Harry S. Parker and Pacific American Corp. dated October 5, 1983, in the Collections Records file labeled Steven G. Alpert—Indonesian Textiles. 

Apply to objects where number equals 1983.131