1983.100 Skirt (lawo butu)

This skirt (lawo butu) offsets an ikat panel of ancestral figures and horses with beadwork that includes sun-like medallions, chickens or roosters, scorpions, and figures with upraised arms. Although the precise meaning of these motifs is no longer known, the orange colored beads (ana heda) found on lawo buta are said to be ancient, came from India, and were of great value in former times.

Lawo butu are worn by unmarried noble women during the mure  rain dance, and by high-ranking married women during the ritual renewal of houses. They are potent heirlooms that were once thought to influence climatic conditions, thus insuring prosperity and good harvests.

Roslyn Adele Walker, Ph.D., Senior Curator, The Arts of Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, The Margaret McDermott Curator of African Art, June 2013

1980-1983: Steven G. Alpert, Dallas, Texas, purchased from a private individual, Ende Flores, Indonesia

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 1983.100