1983.114 Sacred textile with fish pond and leafy plants

Mawa’ are magic cloths painted by a ritual specialist. They are painted prayers to help ensure continued abundance, wealth, and reproductive success. 

This lyrical mawa’ is filled with the life-affirming imagery of trailing water plants (tangle lumu’). Water plants multiply in the rice paddies after a successful harvest, symbolizing rapid growth and abundance. Between the leaves are cross-shaped motifs (pa’doti) that are associated with the white spots found on the piebald buffalo, another symbol of blessings and prosperity. The center circle is both a watering hole for the buffalo and a place where fish are stocked. A male figure holds a fish, and the pond is surrounded by ducks. At the bottom of the composition, a presumably female figure holds stalks of grain near the family’s communal rice barn.

Mawa', which were often given personal names, were stored in baskets or wooden chests in the southwestern part of the traditional house, an area associated with the ancestors.

1975: Steven G. Alpert purchased from Mama Tantu, Ratepao, Tana Toraja, Sulawesi 

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 1983.114